In this study, the maternal genetic diversity, phylogenetic relationship and effect of natural selection on indigenous chickens from Nigeria were assessed. A total of 397-bp fragment of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop region of 171 indigenous chickens from four populations of Nigeria and four commercial egg line strains (two Anak titan, one Giriraja and one Yaffa) as out-groups were analysed. Thirty-one haplotypes (28 from Nigerian chickens and three from commercial strains) and 34 polymorphic sites were identified. The mean haplotypic and nucleotide diversity were found to be 0.39 ± 0.05 and 0.02 ± 0.02, respectively. Majority of Nigerian chicken haplotypes observed were grouped into haplogroup D which originated from Indian subcontinent, suggesting a single maternal lineage. Genetic variation within and between populations accounted for 97.30 and 2.70% of the total genetic variation, respectively, which is in agreement with a recent and maternal founding effect. High number (4) of negatively selected sites observed based on single likelihood ancestral counting (SLAC) model indicated that the sampled Nigerian chicken populations were undergoing purifying selection. This study concluded that there was relatively high genetic diversity and differentiation, thus, this information will probably paveway for further evaluation studies, preservation and improvement of Nigerian chickens as genetic resources towards ensuring food security.

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This study assessed the reproductive performance of indigenous and crossbred parent stocks and the influence of sire genotype on the growth and efficiency of feed utilization by their progenies. A total of 300 poults, 150 for each genotype were generated from two crosses (Nicholas white x Indigenous and Indigenous x Indigenous turkeys). Data were collected on the reproductive performance of the parents while body weight and feed intake from day old to the 20th week of age were also collected from the progenies generated. The experiment was a complete randomized design with data generated subjected to two way analysis of variance using SAS. The result of the study showed that sire genotype had significant effect (p<0.05) on semen colour and semen volume while semen pH, motility, morphology and live dead ratio were not significantly affected. Crossbred tom had higher semen volume (0.39 ml) compared to 0.18 ml recorded in indigenous turkey. Genotype had no significant effect (p>0.05) on all female reproductive traits such as fertility, hatchability, dead in-germ, weak in-shell and dead in-shell. However, the indigenous turkey had higher fertility percentage (85%) while 80% hatchability was observed in crossbred turkey. Crossbred turkey significantly (p<0.05) had higher body weight (3330g) at 20 week of age compared to the indigenous turkey (2869g). Sexual dimorphism in favour of the male turkey was also observed throughout the period of the experiment. Although the crossbred turkey consumed more feed, the efficiency of feed utilization was better in the indigenous turkey. This findings suggested that the indigenous turkeys can be successfully improved with the introgression of exotic genetic material while crossbred turkeys can be further selected for improved productive and adaptive traits.

Deciphering genomic information requires markers that are polymorphic and sufficient enough to capture its vast array of genetic data. Polymorphic loci can differ greatly between breeds of the same species and the exclusion of the Nigerian and some African sheep breeds during the development of the OvineSNP50 chip necessitated the validation of SNPs included on the chip to allow for genomic applications of the excluded breeds. A total of sixty sheep samples were genotyped [10 each of the Balami, Uda, West African Dwarf and Yankasa from Nigeria, Dorper and Red Maasai from Kenya (East Africa)] using the Ovine 50k Illumina SNP bead chip. Results revealed that 33,994 SNPs (97.47%) of the called 34,876 SNPs were validated for downstream analysis. Mean heterozygosity values of 0.154 and 0.153 were obtained for polymorphic SNPs on sex and autosomal chromosomes respectively, while the values of 0.662 and 0.054 were obtained on the sex and autosomal chromosomes respectively for the mean identity-bystate (IBS). Six and three individuals violated the per ID and identity-by-state (IBS) thresholds, respectively. It was observed that the Ovine 50k Illumina SNP bead chip was informative in the Nigerian and East African sheep that were studied, and should be useful in examining the underlying genetic variation.