Using standard survey approaches, we carried out a nationwide survey to morphologically characterize and identify ecozones of Ethiopian horse populations. Accordingly, we explored one new feral horse population previously unreported and seven other distinct horse populations. A total of 17 selected morphological variables were recorded on 503 horses (293 stallions and 210 mares) that belong to five out of eight identified horse populations. Pair-wise multiple mean comparisons (PMMC) using one-way analysis of variance and multivariate analyses were performed separately for each sex and least-squares means was used in the case of aggregated sexes. Results of PMMC showed that there were significant differences (P < 0.05) between the means for most of the variables recorded. Principal component analysis showed that height at wither, height at back, height at rump, body length, back length and barrel length jointly account for about 80 percent of the variations. All squared Mahalanobis distance between populations were significant (P < 0.01). The greatest phenotypic divergence was observed between Bale and Selale horse populations and the least phenotypic divergence was between Horro and Kafa populations. Canonical discriminant function analysis showed that 77.05 percent of individuals were correctly categorized into their respective populations. Moreover, cluster analysis based on squared Mahalanobis distances grouped the five measured Ethiopian horse populations into three major breed groups and five distinct horse populations.

Indigenous livestock resources are strategic in the socio-economics of rural agricultural systems to ensure food security in resource-poor countries. Therefore, better understanding of genetic variation holds the key to future utilization through conservation. We report the first analysis of genetic diversity of Nigerian sheep based on the D-loop region of the Ovis aries mitochondrial genome using 1 179 bases between sites 15 437 and 16 616 base pairs. A sample of 290 animals made up of Balami, West African Dwarf (WAD), Uda and Yankasa breeds were randomly collected from across Nigeria. Ninety-six haplotypes were observed with a high mean haplotype diversity of 0.899 ± 0.148. Gene diversity was highest in Uda (0.921 ± 0.021) and lowest in WAD (0.852 ± 0.061). Population specific FST indices varied from 0.00133 in Uda to 0.00335 in WAD. Yankasa had the highest number of polymorphic sites (201), while the least was in Uda (96). Analysis of molecular variance revealed that 0.23 percent of the variation is found among populations compared with 99.77 percent variation found within populations. The phylogenetic tree indicates that the mitochondrial lineages of these sheep breeds originated from a common source consistent with first divergence of Yankasa followed by WAD, while Balami and Uda remain more closely related. These results suggest that evolutionary divergence of Nigerian sheep breeds based on mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence may be coincident with geographical distribution in Nigeria and suggest significant interbreeding. This could have implications for managing improvement and conservation strategies and long-term conservation of Nigerian indigenous sheep.

This investigation explored the ability to distinguish the morphological and heat-tolerant traits of Nigerian indigenous, exotic and cross-bred turkeys using multivariate discriminant analysis. A total of 228 turkeys that were 20 weeks old were utilized in the study. The body parameters measured were body weight (BW), body length (BL), shank length (SL), thigh length (TL), keel length (KL), breast girth (BG), rectal temperature (RT), pulse rate (PR), respiratory rate (RR) and heat stress index (HI). Analysis of variance revealed that the exotic turkeys had significantly (p < 0.05) higher values than Nigerian indigenous and cross-bred turkeys in all the morphological traits with the exception of TL. However, the indigenous and cross-bred turkeys appeared to have more adaptive capability than the exotic ones based on their low HI. Sexual dimorphism was observed only in the morphological traits with male birds having significantly (p < 0.05) higher BW, BL, SL, TL and KL than that in females. However, the stepwise discriminant analysis revealed that BW, TL and HI were the most discriminating variables to separate the three genetic groups. The longest Mahalanobis distance was observed between the indigenous and exotic turkeys (36.68) while the shortest distance was recorded for the indigenous turkeys and their cross-bred counterparts (7.97). The canonical plot revealed the heterogeneity of the turkey populations as the birds clustered separately. In the nearest-neighbour discriminant analysis, 100.00, 98.73 and 96.43 percent of exotic, cross-bred and indigenous turkeys were correctly assigned into their source genetic groups. The present findings could aid the implementation of a conservation and improvement strategy of indigenous turkeys towards sustainable development of animal genetic resources.

In the 1970s a large proportion of the people of Western Sahara went into exile, settling as refugees in camps in Tindouf, Algeria. They took with them their traditional pastoralist way of life and their breeds of small ruminants, which formed the main part of their diet. Almost three decades later, these breeds, having endured the war and the exodus, are in danger of extinction, firstly because of their situation, and secondly because of scientific ignorance about them. In the present paper, we develop a genetic characterization of the Sidaun and Kerrian breeds of sheep and the Buzguender breed of goats in the Saharawi refugee camps. The results indicate that all the breeds studied still have a high level of genetic differentiation and are not showing signs of recent exotic gene migrations. This is encouraging, for it indicates that we are in time to conserve these genotypes of high ecological value for their capacity to survive in the desert.

The Madras Red sheep, a native breed of Tamil Nadu in India, is known for its high-quality meat and skin. The present study was carried out in 652 flocks consisting of 16 173 sheep in 46 villages randomly selected from the breeding tract to characterize and evaluate Madras Red sheep under field conditions during the period from 2006 to 2009. The data on various sheep management practices viz. flock size, housing, feeding, breeding, disease, etc. were collected based on personal observation and information provided by the farmers. The body weight and different body measurements namely horn length, ear length, tail length, height at withers, chest girth, body girth, flank girth, elbow-pin length and poll–tail length were taken. The animals are found to be medium in size with well built body having a broad and deep chest. Most of the animals are red in colour which varied from tan to dark brown. The flock size varies from 20 to 50. The main breeding season is from July to September. In 62 percent of rams, the horns are medium sized and about 15–25 cm long. In about 4 percent of ewes, the horns are small and less than 15 cm. The ears are pendulous and the tail is medium in length. The mean body weights in age groups of 0–3, 3–6, 6–12 and >12 months of males were 9.20, 12.68, 14.31 and 24.33 kg, respectively, and they were 8.93, 13.08, 17.59 and 24.23 kg, respectively, in females. The animals have excellent feed conversion efficiency under extreme conditions with a high dressing percentage. Sheep farming forms a major source of livelihood for the farmers of the study area and the non-availability of good quality fodder was the major constraint in the farming system. The results of the present study revealed that there is a scope for increasing the productivity of this breed.

Konkan Kanyal goats are medium-sized animals reared for meat purpose. They are predominantly black in colour with white markings in a specific pattern and are found in the Kudal, Sawantwadi, Dodamarg, Malvan and Vengurle Talukas of Sindhudurg district of Konkan region of Maharashtra state. The mean body weight ranges from 30 kg in adult females to 35 kg in males. The age at first kidding, kidding interval and twinning of these goats is 546 days, 240 days and 35 percent respectively. The average daily milk yield and lactation yield were found to be 0.6 and 69 kg, respectively. Characterization of Konkan Kanyal goats was carried out using a panel of 25 microsatellite markers. The genomic DNA of 50 unrelated goats was isolated and PCR amplified under standardized PCR conditions. The amplified DNA was used for genotyping by the automated DNA Sequencer ABI 3730. The analysis of data revealed that the effective number of alleles ranged from 1.17 to 8.94 and the number of observed alleles ranged from 5 to 19. A total of 255 alleles were observed with a mean of 10.2 alleles/locus. The observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.13 to 0.95, while the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.14 to 0.89, indicating the heterogeneous nature of the population distributed in the breeding tract. The mean polymorphism content was 0.79. The qualitative graphical method based on the allele frequency spectra detected no shift in the frequency distribution of alleles and a normal L-shaped curve was observed where the alleles with the lowest frequencies were found to be most abundant. Based on the phenotypic and genetic variability, Konkan Kanyal goats appear to be distinct from other goats of Maharashtra state.

Populations of the six equine breeds registered by the Indian National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources have drastically decreased due to indiscriminate breeding and their low utilization. In this study, 15 biometric indices along with typical breed characteristics were recorded for 50 animals of each breed except Bhutia breed (35) for their phenotypic characterization. On the basis of their heights at wither, Kathiawari and Marwari breeds were grouped under “horse”, while Zanskari, Manipuri, Bhutia and Spiti fell under “pony” breeds. Marwari was the tallest and significantly different from other breeds in most of the biometric indices. Spiti was the shortest breed among all the six horse and pony breeds. Sex-wise differences were also observed in some of the biometric indices in different breeds. In Marwari and Kathiawari breeds, both stallions and mares can rotate their ears at an angle of 180° making the ear tips meet in the centre, which is a typical characteristic of the two breeds. This report aims at providing reference data for identification and comparison of different breeds of equines in India with a view to raise awareness among animal geneticists and breeders for production of true to breed animals, conservation and better management of these precious genetic resources.

Seven morphostructural traits namely head, face and skull widths and lengths and head depth of 300 cows belonging to seven different French and Spanish breeds were measured. The investigation aimed at grouping these cattle breeds according to their head conformation using principal component analysis. From the normalized varimax rotation, two principal components that accounted for 68.1 percent of the total variance were extracted. The first principal component, termed viscerocranium length component, had its loadings for face and head lengths and explained 49.9 percent of the generalized variance. Skull and head widths determined the second principal component, which contributed to 19.2 percent of the variance, and could be termed the component of the neurocranium width. There is a good deal of overlap between breeds although the Avileña breed shows an increasingly longer built skull in terms of face and skull lengths. The Blanca del Pallars breed appears significantly separated from alpine breeds but closely related to Gascon.

Turkey's 10.6 million head of cattle comprise a rich array of native breeds and types but these are being increasingly eroded by the often indiscriminate use of exotic genotypes. The structure of agriculture is such that most farms are predominantly subsistence oriented, of small size, keep few animals and provide only minimal inputs. Native breeds have evolved to meet these conditions and are generally well adapted to the natural environment, inadequate and unbalanced nutrition and disease stress. In the last 80 years, there has been much modification of the natural gene pool and many distinct breed types are in danger of or have already suffered extinction. This paper describes some of the major remaining cattle genetic resources and their conservation status. Government is now aware of the danger of the impoverishment or loss of this important aspect of biodiversity and has established programmes for conservation and preservation of several native breeds. Government, research institutions and producers should work together to ensure that the local gene pool is preserved and can thus continue to contribute to biodiversity and sustainable livestock production.

Indigenous cattle breeds represent a unique genetic resource, and understanding their variability, population structure and breeding units is important for their sustainable conservation. The endangered Jutland breed was widespread in Denmark in the eighteenth century, but decreased in population size following the introduction of modern farming. We investigated the impact of recent anthropogenic fragmentation of the breed by analysing 737-bp mitochondrial DNA and 23 microsatellites in 207 individuals. The results revealed the Jutland breed as a unique genetic entity with high levels of genetic diversity, and only limited introgression from other black-pied breeds. The data reflected the impacts of fragmentation and restricted gene flow in breeds with small segregated herds, and revealed the rapid differentiation of herds resulting from genetic drift. The application of a management strategy that conserves diversity and minimizes increase in inbreeding is important for the future conservation of the Jutland breed and other indigenous cattle breeds.

Backyard poultry is considered as a powerful tool for poverty alleviation. It is further promoted as a way of empowering women in communities where there is gender bias in poultry raising. The low-input systems involved are based on local breeds that are perfectly suited to their environment. However, socio-economic processes put local genetic resources under pressure, leading to the erosion of biodiversity. The present survey addresses this issue in the case of Kabylie, a mountainous coastal region of Algeria, through a survey conducted in 90 households raising poultry, a morpho-biometric description of 315 local chickens, and a performance evaluation of both growth and egg production in experimental semi-intensive conditions. The socio-economic profile of poultry smallholders in Kabylie reveals poor education and high diversification of agricultural assets and confirms gender bias in poultry keeping. The erosion of local genetic resources in chicken is found to be severe despite their cultural importance in Kabylie. From complementary surveys among experienced poultry keepers, the major original local type is postulated to consist of three varieties with black plumage (pure black, mottled and barred). The performance evaluation raised promising results, suggesting that exploiting the local breed could pursue some degree of improvement of low-input backyard systems. Finally, a strategy for a revival of the local breed through the support of the most involved smallholders is outlined in accordance with the information collected in the survey.

The Society for Conservation Biology has highlighted the vital importance of social sciences in animal conservation. For farm animals, their close association with humans over many centuries makes it more sensible and necessary to incorporate social sciences and humanity studies into the conservation efforts. In this review, we report a multidisciplinary study for the conservation of a unique native cattle population, the Yakutian cattle, which are the last remnants of the Turano-Mongolian Bos taurus cattle from Siberia, the far east of Russia. These cattle, which are well adapted to the severe climate and environmental conditions in the northeast Siberian territory, are gaining popularity as a hardy, adapted and useful genetic resource, particularly when man is facing the challenge of global climate change. However, the population is categorized by the FAO as “rare and endangered”. Our multidisciplinary collaborative study has proved to be successful through animal genetics, anthropology, geography, history, sociology and bio-art, and could be applied also in developing conservation programmes for other livestock, wild animals or plants.