Brilliant O. Agaviezor

Morphological and microsatellite DNA diversity of Nigerian indigenous sheep

BackgroundSheep is important in the socio-economic lives of people around the world. It is estimated that more than half of our once common livestock breeds are now endangered. Since genetic characterization of Nigerian sheep is still lacking, we analyzed ten morphological traits on 402 animals and 15 microsatellite DNA markers in 384 animals of the 4 Nigerian sheep breeds to better understand genetic diversity for breeding management and germplasm conservation.ResultsMorphological traits of Uda and Balami were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than Yankasa, which were both higher than West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep. Stepwise discriminant analysis showed tail length, rump height, chest girth, ear length and chest depth as the most discriminating variables for classification. Mahalanobis distances show the least differentiation between Uda and Balami and the largest between WAD and Balami sheep. While 93.3% of WAD sheep were correctly assigned to their source genetic group, 63.9% of Yankasa, 61.2% of Balami and 45.2% of Uda were classified correctly by nearest neighbour discriminant analysis. The overall high Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) of all microsatellite markers ranged from 0.751 to 0.927 supporting their use in genetic characterization. Expected heterozygosity was high for all loci (0.783 to 0.93). Mean heterozygote deficiency across all populations (0.171 to 0.534) possibly indicate significant inbreeding (P < 0.05). Mean values for FST, FIT and FIS statistics across all loci were 0.088, 0.394 and 0.336 respectively. Yankasa and Balami are the most closely related breeds (DA = 0.184) while WAD and Balami are the farthest apart breeds (DA = 0.665), which is coincident with distance based on morphological analysis and population structure assessed by STRUCTURE.ConclusionsThese results suggest that within-breed genetic variation in Nigerian sheep is higher than between-breeds and may be a valuable tool for genetic improvement and conservation. The higher genetic variability in Yankasa suggests the presence of unique ancestral alleles reflecting the presence of certain functional genes which may result in better adaptability in more agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. These genetic characteristics are potentially useful in planning improvement and conservation strategies in Nigerian indigenous sheep.

Haematological studies on frizzled and naked neck genotypes of Nigerian native chickens

Variation in haematological parameters of Nigerian native chickens was studied using 60 clinically normal frizzle-feathered, naked-neck, and normal-feathered native chickens. These included red blood cell count, haemoglobin, packed cell volume, white blood cell count, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, serum glucose, urea, cholesterol, albumin, globulin and creatinine. Normal-feathered birds had higher (p < 0.05) mean values compared to frizzled and native neck genotypes except for albumin, red blood and white blood cells, and mean cell haemoglobin concentration. Males generally had higher mean values than their female counterparts across all genotypes. Correlation coefficients among the parameters were significant (p < 0.001) with r values ranging from 0.26 between red blood cell and mean corpuscular haemoglobin to 0.92 between red blood cell and cholesterol. Sufficient genetic variation therefore exists for haematological parameters among Nigerian native chickens that may represent indicator traits for further study. However, the application of molecular tools will provide better understanding and application of these differences.

Genetic diversity analysis of the mitochondrial D-loop of Nigerian indigenous sheep

Los recursos ganaderos autoctonos son de caracter estrategico en los aspectos socioeconomicos de los sistemas agricolas para garantizar la seguridad alimentaria en los paises de escasos recursos. Por lo tanto, conocer mejor la importancia de la variabilidad genetica es vital para su futura utilizacion, por medio de la conservacion. Se presenta el primer analisis de la diversidad genetica en ovejas de Nigeria basado en la region de control (D-loop) del Ovis aries del genoma mitocondrial, utilizando 1.179 bases entre las posiciones 15.437 y 16.616 de pares de bases. Una muestra de 290 animales, compuesta por las razas Balami, West African Dwarf (WAD), Uda y Yankasa, fue tomada al azar de toda Nigeria. Se observaron noventa y seis (96) haplotipos, con una alta diversidad media en cuanto a estos de 0,899 ± 0,148. La diversidad genetica fue mayor en la raza Uda (0,921 ± 0,021) y menor en la raza WAD (0,852 ± 0,061). Los indices de poblacion especificos FST variaron de 0.00133 en la raza Uda a 0,00335 en la razaWAD. La raza Yankasa presento el mayor numero de posiciones polimorficas (201), mientras que el menor lo mostro la raza Uda (96). Analisis de la varianza molecular revelo que 0,23% de la variacion se encuentra entre las poblaciones, en comparacion con el 99,77% de variacion que se encuentra dentro de las poblaciones. El arbol filogenetico indica que los linajes mitocondriales de las razas ovinas partieron de un origen comun en conformidad con la primera divergencia de la raza Yankasa, seguida por WAD, mientras que las razas Balami y Uda se encuentran mas estrechamente relacionadas. Estos resultados demuestran que la divergencia evolutiva de las poblaciones ovinas de Nigeria, basados en el ADN mitocondrial de la region control, puede coincidir con la distribucion geografica en Nigeria e indican una tasa importante de cruzamiento entre ellas. Esto podria tener ventajas desde el punto de vista de la gestion de la mejora y las estrategias de conservacion y preservacion a largo plazo de las ovejas autoctonas de Nigeria.

Variation in Growth and Linear Body Measurements of Rabbits Due to Generation Differences, Housing Systems, Sex and Season

The aim of the study is to determine the effect of generational differences, housing systems, sex and seasonal variations and their interactions on the growth and linear body parameters of rabbits. A total of ninety-six (96) weaner rabbits (Chinchilla and New Zealand White crossbred) were used for this study and were divided into forty-eight (48) per generation. These forty-eight weaner rabbits were further divided into four males in three replicates (12) as well as four females in three replicates (12) for cage (24) and also repeated in deep litter system (24). This experiment was carried out in four seasons with seasonal divisions being made according to the climatic conditions prevalent in southwest Nigeria namely early dry season (EDS) from September to November, late dry season (LDS) from December to February, early rainy season (ERS) from March to May and late rainy season (LRS) from June to August. This experiment was carried out for two generations and data obtained were analysed using Analysis of Variance in a 2 x 2 x 2 x 4 factorial arrangement. The study showed that most of the body linear measurements investigated increased significantly in the first than the second generation and during the

Awareness and Utilization of Genetically Modified Foods in Nigeria

Abstract The increase in the Nigerian and global population has necessitated the move to increase food production to meet the demands of both man and livestock. The introduction of genetically modified foods (GMFs) raised hopes that the problem of food insecurity would be solved for a while. However, despite the many advantages of GMFs, many countries have failed to welcome the technology. Many believe that GM plants, animals, products, and inorganic fertilizers do not deliver on any of their promised benefits; but instead provide pain, difficulty, and death. This notion has hindered the implementation and utilization of this technology in most African countries. Therefore, this chapter aims to assess the awareness and utilization of GMFs in Nigeria and to determine whether GMFs could be used to solve food insecurity in the country.