Preliminary investigation of haemoglobin polymorphism and association with morphometric traits in West African Dwarf goats in north central Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study was to characterize the genetic pool of the West African Dwarf (WAD) goats using haemoglobin (Hb) polymorphism, as well as the association of some morphological traits with the Hb variants. Blood samples were collected from a total of 104 mature goats of both sexes belonging to the WAD breed in north central Nigeria. The red cell lysates were subjected to cellulose acetate electrophoresis and specific staining procedure to reveal the band patterns of haemoglobin. Three co-dominant alleles, causing the presence of three genotypes (AA, AB and AC) were detected among individual goats. The frequencies of the A, B and C alleles were 0.69, 0.30 and 0.01, respectively. The corresponding genotype frequencies for AA, AB and AC in the goat population were 0.37, 0.61 and 0.02, respectively. The discrepancy between the observed and the expected genotype number was significant (P0.05) by Hb variants. There is a need for further study encompassing more number of goats covering larger areas, use of DNA markers and their relationship with economic traits as well as performance study for detailed understanding of breed characteristics, conservation and genetic improvement of WAD goats in north central Nigeria.

Keywords

• haemoglobin
• polymorphism
• morphometric traits
• goats