Typology, management and smallholder farmer-preferred traits for selection of indigenous goats (Capra hisrcus) in three agro-ecological zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The present study aimed to assess the typology, production management, and smallholder farmer-preferred traits in selecting indigenous goats in three agro-ecological zones (AEZs) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Based on a structured survey, baseline data were recorded on 320 adults and unrelated does from 202 goat farms. Hierarchical clustering on principal components revealed three clusters in the goats studied well distinguished by double and triple kidding. Prolific goats mostly clustered into cluster two and three more represented by goats of South Kivu while 82.69% of goats in Tshopo were clustered into cluster one characterized by low reproductive performances. The Canonical Discriminant Analysis revealed that the body length was an important variable both to discriminate and to classify goats from the three AEZs. Goats from Kinshasa and South Kivu were not distanced while large distance was observed between goats from Kinshasa and Tshopo (F-stat, p < 0.001). While not subjected to any good management practices, goats were considered as a source of income and saving method in smallholder farmers' households. Adaptability, resistance to disease and prolificacy were preferred traits by farmers in selecting goats. These results give the first step in the decision-making towards goat improvement in DR Congo

Haplotype analysis of the mitochondrial DNA d-loop region reveals the maternal origin and historical dynamics among the indigenous goat populations in east and west of the Democratic Republic of Congo

This study aimed at assessing haplotype diversity and population dynamics of three Congolese indigenous goat populations that included Kasai goat (KG), small goat (SG), and dwarf goat (DG) of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The 1169 bp d-loop region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was sequenced for 339 Congolese indigenous goats. The total length of sequences was used to generate the haplotypes and evaluate their diversities, whereas the hypervariable region (HVI, 453 bp) was analyzed to define the maternal variation and the demographic dynamic. A total of 568 segregating sites that generated 192 haplotypes were observed from the entire d-loop region (1169 bp d-loop). Phylogenetic analyses using reference haplotypes from the six globally defined goat mtDNA haplogroups showed that all the three Congolese indigenous goat populations studied clustered into the dominant haplogroup A, as revealed by the neighbor-joining (NJ) tree and median-joining (MJ) network. Nine haplotypes were shared between the studied goats and goat populations from Pakistan (1 haplotype), Kenya, Ethiopia and Algeria (1 haplotype), Zimbabwe (1 haplotype), Cameroon (3 haplotypes), and Mozambique (3 haplotypes). The population pairwise analysis (F-ST) indicated a weak differentiation between the Congolese indigenous goat populations. Negative and significant (p-value <.05) values for Fu's Fs (-20.418) and Tajima's (-2.189) tests showed the expansion in the history of the three Congolese indigenous goat populations. These results suggest a weak differentiation and a single maternal origin for the studied goats. This information will contribute to the improvement of the management strategies and long-term conservation of indigenous goats in DRC

Molecular pilot study on peripheral populations of Kenyan greenbul in an afromontane fragmented forest

We provide a molecular study on peripheral populations of three closely related species of African forest-dependent greenbuls: the generalist Eurillas latirostris and the specialists Phyllastrephus cabanisi and Arizelocichla nigriceps. These species co-occur within their range limits in the Kenyan Afromontane forest, Cherangani Hills. This forest has experienced drastic deforestation, which began about 50years ago, that is causing habitat fragmentation. The aims of this study, using the analyses of molecular tools, are twofold: (i) to provide evidence that functional traits (i.e., ecological attributes) may shape different genetic structure in peripheral populations and (ii) to identify the possible effects of forest fragmentation. Blood and plucked feathers were sampled from a total of 124 birds analysed using two molecular approaches: (i) sequencing of cytochrome b mtDNA and (ii) genotyping nuclear DNA at eight microsatellite loci. Molecular diversity indices, minimum spanning network and mismatch distribution analysis of mtDNA results indicated that the peripheral populations showed different demographic trends: a highly variable and bimodal pattern in forest specialist P.cabanisi, a less variable and unimodal pattern in forest generalist E.latirostris and in the montane specialist A.nigriceps. Although this is a pilot study on the Cherangani forest fragmentation, the nuclear results may not exclude the hypothesis of reduced connectivity in all forest-dependent greenbuls.Resume Nous apportons une etude moleculaire des populations peripheriques de trois especes de bulbuls etroitement liees, dependantes de la foret africaine: l'espece generaliste Eurillas latirostris et les especes specialistes Phyllastrephus cabanisi et Arizelocichla nigriceps. Ces especes coexistent, au sein de leur aire de repartition, dans la foret afromontagnarde kenyane des Cherangani Hills. Cette foret subit une deforestation dramatique, qui a commence il y a quelque 50ans et qui provoque une fragmentation de l'habitat. Le but de cette etude, qui utilise une analyse d'outils moleculaires, est double: i) apporter la preuve que des caracteristiques fonctionnelles (c. a d. ecologiques) peuvent modeler differentes structures genetiques dans des populations peripheriques et ii) identifier les effets possibles de la fragmentation forestiere. Du sang et des plumes ont ete preleves sur un total de 124 oiseaux analyses suivant deux approches moleculaires: 1) le sequencage de l'ADN mitochondrial (cytochromeb) et 2) le dechiffrage du genotype de l'ADN nucleaire de huit loci microsatellites. Les resultats des Indices de diversite moleculaire, du Reseau de recouvrement minimum, et de l'Analyse des ecarts de la distribution de l'ADNmt ont montre que les populations peripheriques presentaient des tendances demographiques differentes: un schema tres variable et bimodal chez l'espece specialiste de la foret P. cabanisi, un schema moins variable et unimodal chez la generaliste de la foret E.latirostris et chez la specialiste de montagne A. nigriceps. Bien que ceci soit une etude pilote de la fragmentation de la foret de Cherangani, les resultats nucleaires ne permettent pas d'exclure l'hypothese d'une connectivite reduite entre tous les bulbuls dependant de la foret