Finnsheep and their crosses under subtropical conditions

Finnsheep (F) have been introduced to eight countries in the subtropical Near East region over the last two decades. Those trials aiming at breeding pure F under the subtropical conditions were generally not successful. Pure F faced problems of adaptability to the subtropical environmental conditions, however, bad management and some health problems (especially Pneumonia) contributed significantly to the failure of some trials. On the other hand, crossbreeding trials with F in the region were generally successful. F-crosses proved to be well adapted to heat stress and exposure to solar radiation compared with the local breeds. Number of lambs born/ewe lambed was improved in F-crosses, as compared to local breeds, by 18—75 %in the first cross and 10—38 % in the 1/4 F. F-crossbred ewes showed encouraging results in their ability to breed more than once/year, especially those with lower F-blood (1/4 F). Number of lambs born/ewe/year in accelerated lambing systems ranged from 1.91 to 2.72 in the first cross and from 1.67 to 2.18 in 1/4 F either in experimental farms or at the producers. Crossing fat tail sheep with F substantially decreased fat in the tail of the crossbreeds, while it increased significantly internal fat and total fat percentage in the carcass

Prediction of the performance of synthetic sheep strains utilizing Finnsheep and native sheep breeds in Egypt

This investigation was carried out to estimate individual and maternal heterotic components for ewe productivity traits to enable predicting the performance of synthetics including local (Rahmani (R) and Ossimi (O)) and Finn (F) inheritance. Reproduction performance traits studied were number of ewes conceived (ECJ), number of lambs born (LBJ), number of lambs at four months of age (L4J), kilograms born (KBJ) and kilograms at four months of age (K4J), all being per ewe joined, and number of lambs born (LBL), number of lambs at four months of age (L4L), kilograms born (KBL) and kilograms at four months of age (K4L), all being per ewe lambed. Results indicate an expected increase of 0.32, 0.19, 0.50 and 0.27 in LBJ, L4J, LBL and L4L for F.R and 0.32, 0.23, 0.59 and 0.40 in the same traits for F.O after two generations of interse mating, respectively. For FR.R and FO.O the improvements were(0.18, 0.18), (0.13, 0.15), (0.22, 0.28) and (0.15, 0.22) in LBJ, L4J, LBL and L4L, resp. It can be concluded that introducing the F to the local subtropical sheep in Egypt would substantially improve their reproductive performance whether for implementation at the small farmer level (quarter F) or at higher intensification level (half F)

Genome-wide landscape of runs of homozygosity and differentiation across Egyptian goat breeds

: Understanding the genomic features of livestock is essential for successful breeding programs and conservation. This information is scarce for local goat breeds in Egypt. In the current study, genomic regions with selection signatures were identified as well as runs of homozygosity (ROH), genomic inbreeding coefficients (FROH) and fixation index (FST) were detected in Egyptian Nubian, Damascus, Barki and Boer goat breeds. A total of 46,268 SNP markers and 337 animals were available for the genomic analyses. On average, 145.44, 42.02, 87.90 and 126.95 ROHs were detected per individual in the autosomal genome of the respective breeds. The mean accumulative ROH lengths ranged from 46.5 Mb in Damascus to 360 Mb in Egyptian Nubian. The short ROH segments (< 2 Mb) were most frequent in all breeds, while the longest ROH segments (> 16 Mb) were exclusively found in the Egyptian Nubian. The highest average FROH was observed in Egyptian Nubian (~ 0.12) followed by Boer (~ 0.11), while the lowest FROH was found in Damascus (~ 0.05) and Barki breed (~ 0.03). The estimated mean FST was 0.14 (Egyptian Nubian and Boer), 0.077 (Egyptian Nubian and Barki), 0.075 (Egyptian Nubian and Damascus), 0.071 (Barki and Boer), 0.064 (Damascus and Boer), and 0.015 (Damascus and Barki), for each pair of breeds. Interestingly, multiple SNPs that accounted for high FST values were observed on chromosome 6 in regions harboring ALPK1 and KCNIP4. Genomic regions overlapping both FST and ROH harbor genes related to immunity (IL4R, PHF23, GABARAP, GPS2, and CD68), reproduction (SPATA2L, TNFSF12, TMEM95, and RNF17), embryonic development (TCF25 and SOX15) and adaptation (MC1R, KDR, and KIT), suggesting potential genetic adaptations to local environmental conditions. Our results contribute to the understanding of the genetic architecture of different goat breeds and may provide valuable information for effective preservation and breeding programs of local goat breeds in Egypt