Summary The study was aimed to identify, characterize and describe the phenotypic variation of indigenous goose populations in Bangladesh. The research was conducted at Sylhet Sadar Upazilla in Sylhet district and encompassed about 141 geese (74 brown type and 67 white type). Least Square Mean ± SE of body length, wing span, shank length, beak length and head length of mature indigenous goose were 73.47 ± 0.95, 134.53 ± 1.38, 9.27 ± 0.09, 8.88 ± 0.10 and 6.42 ± 0.02 cm, respectively. Males were significantly (p < 0.01) higher than their female counterparts for all morphometric traits but no significant differences (p > 0.05) were found between two types. The body weight of indigenous goose at day old, 2-week, 1-month, 2-month and 10-month of age were 95.45 ± 0.88, 148.59 ± 1.55, 407.34 ± 7.27 gm, 1.19 ± 0.03 kg and 3.65 ± 0.06 kg, respectively. Males were significantly (p < 0.01) heavier than females in all age groups except day old gosling but no significant difference (p > 0.05) were observed for body weights between two types of goose. Egg weight, egg length, egg width, incubation period, clutch size, number of eggs in a breeding season and age at first egg were 131.85 ± 1.70 gm, 7.40 ± 0.02 cm, 5.22 ± 0.02 cm, 30.30 ± 0.07 days, 7.42 ± 0.08, 20.52 ± 0.38 and 313.22 ± 3.03 days, respectively. The number of eggs in a breeding season of brown type were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than that of white type goose. This study provides a bench mark for the morphometric traits and performance of goose in Bangladesh.

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Commercial beef cattle populations are rarely purebred. Understanding genetic diversity and population structure of crossbreds is important for future genetic improvement programs. Currently, an admixed beef cattle population comprised of British, Continental and Australian origin is being used for long-term research goals in understanding longevity, efficiency (reproductive and nutritional), and their interaction. This experiment aimed to assess the levels of genetic diversity and population structure among purebred (n = 6) and admixed (n = 3) sub-populations. A total of 727 animals were genotyped using the GeneSeek Genomic Profiler 150K. After quality checking, expected heterozygosity (HE) and polymorphism were calculated using 108,249 markers by sub-population. After LD-pruning, the remaining 19,316 SNP were used for pairwise fixation index (FST), analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), and principle component analysis. The call rate for each sub-population ranged from 0.9866 ± 0.0351 to 0.9994 ± 0.0006. The lowest proportion (0.8527) of polymorphism was in the American Aberdeen (AA) and the highest proportion (1) was in the admixed populations. By sub-population, HE ranged from 0.3490 ± 0.1482 in AA to 0.3935 ± 0.1315 in Angus. The average nucleotide diversity over loci varied from 0.2976 ± 0.1444 in AA to 0.3872 ± 0.1879 in unknown parentage sub-population. The highest genetic differentiation was observed between AA and Continental breeds (Gelbvieh and Simmental) as FST estimates ranged from 0.1757 to 0.1789, respectively. Differences within individuals explained 98.15% of the total variance, whereas only -2.33% was due to differences among individuals within sub-populations. The first and second principal components (PC) explained 37.77% and 24.29% of the total variance, respectively. These PC show that admixed individuals clustered with animals of their primary breed. Therefore, this study suggests that clustering individuals according to their primary breed will assist in future genetic studies with this population and potentially future commercial genetic improvement programs.

Leptin is a 16-kDa-peptide hormone product of the leptin gene (LEP) that is predominantly synthesized by adipose tissues and has known involvement in regulation of feed intake, energy expenditure, reproduction, and immune functions. The objective was to determine the association of leptin genotype (LEP c.73C >T), leptin diplotype (LEPD) and plasma leptin hormone (LEPH) concentration with growth, feed intake, feed efficiency, and behavior characteristics in developing beef heifers. A total of 336 commercial beef heifers were genotyped for the LEP c.73C >T marker. Four single nucleotide polymorphism markers including LEP c.73C >T, ARS-BFGL-NGS-59298 (intron 1), BovineHD0400026029 (upstream) and BovineHD0400026063 (downstream) of LEP were considered for haplotype analysis. Eleven LEPD were identified for this study using parsimony-based analyses. Circulating levels of LEPH were measured on 333 heifers prior to their first breeding season and used to assign low or high concentration group based on population median. Data were analyzed using the mixed procedure of SAS for repeated measures, fixed effects of ancestral breed group (n = 4), dam age category (n = 4), frame size group (n = 4), project cycle nested within birth year (n = 6), week of feed trial × year, LEP (n = 3) or LEPD (n = 11) or LEPH (n = 2), as well as week × LEPH (only for LEPH). There were no significant differences between LEP genotypes (P ≥ 0.11) or LEPD (P ≥ 0.33) for any of the studied traits. Heifers with low LEPH ate fewer meals per day (P = 0.02) and had more DMI per meal (P = 0.04) compared to those with high plasma leptin. Further research is needed to better understand plasma LEPH concentration and its role in feeding behavior attributes. However, circulatory LEPH before the breeding season may serve as a predictor for feeding behavior.