Prediction of Carcass Weight from Live Body Weight and Morpho-Biometric Traits of Male Nigerian Indigenous Chickens Using Path Coefficient Analysis

Carcass weight has great economic importance in poultry industry and is associated with other traits. This study investigates correlations among morpho-biometric traits (body length (BL), thigh length (TL), breast girth (BL), shank length (SL) and wing length (WL), livebody weight (LBW) and carcass weight (CW) in male chickens and quantifies the direct and indirect influence of LBW and morpho-biometric traits on CW. The aforementioned traits were measured in 187 male Nigerian indigenous chickens at 20 weeks of age. Correlation and regression coefficients among the traits were obtained to determine the intensity and nature of their association while the path analysis was used to investigate effects of LBW and morpho-biometric traits on CW trait. All analyses were done by SAS 9.1.3 software. The correlation coefficients among morpho-biometric traits, LBW and CW ranged from 0.1953 to 0.9930. The highest correlation was between LBW and CW (0.9930). The results showed a positive and highly significant correlation (P 0.05). The LBW had the highest direct influence on CW followed by BG. Individual pre-selection for these traits could favour an increased CW in the future generations of this chicken type since the LBW and the BG are directly related to CW

Mitochondrial DNA hypervariable region 1 diversity in Nigerian goats

Goats make up the largest group of ruminant livestock in Nigeria and are strategic in bridging animal protein supply gap and improving the economy of rural households. The Hypervariable Region 1 (HVR1) of the caprine mitochondrial genome was investigated to better understand genetic diversity important for improving selection for animal breeding and conservation programs. We sequenced and analysed the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) HVR1 in 291 unrelated indigenous Nigerian goats (West African Dwarf (WAD), Red Sokoto (RSO) and Sahel (SAH)), randomly sampled from around the country and compared them with the HVR1 sequences of 336 Indian goats and 12 other sequences in five different species in the genus Capra (C. falconeri, C. ibex nubiana, C. aegagrus, C. cylindricornis and C. sibirica). A total of 139 polymorphic sites from 291 individuals were captured in 204 haplotypes. Within and among population variations were 77.25 and 22.74 %, respectively. Nigerian goats showed high genetic diversity (0.87) and high FST values and separate from Indian goats and other wild species. Haplogroups in WAD separates it from RSO and SAH concomitant with a different demographic history. Clear genetic structure was found among Nigerian goat breeds with appreciable variation in mtDNA HVR1 region. This study grouped Nigerian goat breeds into two major groups suggesting two different demographic origins for Northern and Southern breeds. High genetic admixing denotes different maternal origins and in contrast to evidence from goats from Levant and Central Asia, where goats were originally domesticated