Year 2024, Volume 9, Issue 3

Year : 2024
Volume : 9
Issue : 3
   
Authors : Spyridoula GEORGATOU, Dimitris PAPACHRISTOU, Ivica MEDUGORAC, George LALIOTIS, Nicolaos KASSINIS, Iosif BIZELIS, Panagiota KOUTSOULI
Title : PHENOTYPIC TRAITS, DIVERSITY LEVELS AND GENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF CRETAN SHEEP BREEDS
Abstract : A comprehensive study of the indigenous Cretan sheep breeds was conducted involving both body measurements and genetic analyses. Body measurements of female sheep (Anogia (n=7); Asterousia (n=23); Sfakia (n=17) and Sitia (n=43)) included withers height, body length, ear length, tail length and girth, and body weight. Results indicated that the Sfakia breed had the highest withers height (62.7 ± 2.4 cm) while the Sitia breed had the lowest (59.1 ± 5.3 cm). In addition, the Sfakia breed showed the greatest body length (65.4 ± 5.5 cm), and the Sitia breed the smallest (60.8 ± 4.3 cm). In terms of body weight, the Sfakia breed was the heaviest (38 ± 4.2 kg) and the Anogia breed the lightest (21 ± 2.5 kg). For genetic identification, blood was sampled from 25 Anogia, 27 Asterousia, 31 Sfakia, 12 Sitia, 58 Kasos Island and 15 Karpathos Island sheep individuals. Genotypes of over 45,000 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) were obtained for each breed, using the OvineSNP50 BeadChip (Illumina). Observed and expected heterozygosity, allelic richness, and the inbreeding coefficient were calculated. The highest observed heterozygosity based on SNP haplotype blocks was in the Anogia and Sitia breeds (0.78), while Anogia also had the highest expected heterozygosity (0.81) and allelic richness (7.53). The highest genomic inbreeding coefficient (0.175) was estimated in the Karpathos population and the lowest (0.062) in the Anogia breed. Genetic relatedness and distances among the breeds/populations were analyzed and depicted in phylogenetic trees, revealing significant insights into the genetic diversity and relationships of these sheep populations.
For citation : Georgatou, S., Papachristou, D., Medugorac, I., Laliotis, G., Kassinis, N., Bizelis, I., Koutsouli, P. (2024). Phenotypic traits, diversity levels and genetic relationships of Cretan sheep breeds. AGROFOR International Journal, Volume 9. Issue No. 3. pp. 68-76. DOI: 10.7251/AGREN2403068G
Keywords : indigenous sheep, body measurements, genetic diversity, genetic distances.
   
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