In livestock production, traditional methods of selection have always been the way to go. However, with the advent of genomics techniques, methods such as PCR-RFLP is been employed to identify single nucleotide polymorphism of likely candidate genes useful for livestock selection and improvement. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association of Melanocortin 4 Receptor (MC4R) gene polymorphism with the body weight ofrabbits. Seventy-four rabbits were used for this study consisting of six breeds; 26 Chinchilla, 3 Californian, 11 Dutch, 4 English Spot, 10 New Zealand White and 20 Fauve de Bourgogne (FDB) breeds. Blood samples were collected from the animals with needle and syringe and transferred unto FTA cards and stored away from light. Body weight measurements on the animals were recorded from 2 weeks to 20 weeks. PCR-RFLP analysis produced threegenotypes AA, AG, GG with genotype frequency of 0.14, 0.69 and 0.18 respectively. Allele frequency 0.48 and 0.52 for allele A and G respectively was obtained. Chi-square test showed that the population was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Association analysis between the MC4R “c.101G>A” SNP and body weight of rabbit was tested using GLM procedure of SAS programme. Genotype GG had higher body weight (p<0.05) at 12, 16 and 20 weeks inthe Dutch rabbits while genotype AA recorded a higher (p<0.05) body weight value at 12 weeks in New Zealand White rabbits. More so, female Dutch rabbits had higher (p<0.05) mean weight than the males at 12, 16 and 20 weeks of age. Male New Zealand White breeds recorded higher (p<0.05) mean weight than the female animals. The result of the study showed that MC4R “c.101G>A” SNP was not associated with the body weight in the studied rabbit population, although, genotype AA had higher mean weight values at 12, 16 and 20 weeks of age than genotypes AG and GG.

There is an impending need to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels in these areas of the world considering the ever depleting conventional oil resources and climate change, induced by greenhouse gas emissions. Algae are currently being prompted as a potential next generation bioenergy feedstock due to the fact that they do not compete with food or feed crops. They also produce much higher areal oil yields than the current agricultural crops. They can be produced on barren lands and have broad bioenergy potentials as they can be used to produce liquid transportation and heating fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol, or anaerobically digested to produce biogas. Algae are fast growing organisms capable of fixing high amount of carbondioxide through photosynthesis to produce biomass. Diverse technologies are currently being pursued to produce algae for bioenergy applications. The successful culture of algae could serve as a solution to the impending energy crises in both developed and developing countries.