Analysis of Genetic Diversity of Egyptian Pigeon Breeds

Abstract

Ancient Egyptians used pigeons not only as food in the form of squab but also as a messenger by virtue of their strong homing ability. Pigeons are bred for many purposes like meat in the form of squabs, exhibition as fancy and ornamental, flying and sports like racing competition, and finally for laboratory experiments of cognitive sciences. In this study, a total of pigeon samples of six Egyptian breeds ( ) and Japanese racing pigeons ( ) were surveyed. One sample from each breed was sequenced for mitochondrial gene and all samples were genotyped across microsatellites loci. From sequence, all the seven studied populations were found to belong to same the species (). By the analysis of microsatellite loci a total of alleles were observed with an average of . alleles per locus. The expected heterozygosities of the six Egyptian breeds and Japanese racing pigeons were .and . , respectively. showed a relatively high mean of .which indicated that there is a great di erentiation among the seven pigeon populations. Zagel breed and Japanese racing pigeons showed the lowest values for both pairwise ( . ) and Nei's genetic distance ( . ). The information from this study would be useful for genetic characterization and provide a foundation for developing sustainable genetic improvement and conservation programs of this agriculturally and commercially important species.: Egyptian breed, genetic diversity, microsatellite, mitochondrial pigeon form of squab and used pigeon's nitrogen-rich guano or feaces as fertilizers (Jerolmack, ). They discovered The importance of maintaining genetic diversity in dothe strong homing ability of pigeons and used them as a mestic livestock is advocated worldwide by the Food and messenger. An Egyptian bas-relief from around B.C. Agriculture Organization (FAO). Therefore, conserva-"depicts a flock of doves being released from their cages to tion of native breeds as a genetic resource is important to fly and then return" (Glover and Beaumont, ). fill unanticipated breeding demands in the future (Tadano The six Egyptian indigenous pigeon breeds used in this b). Among these species, pigeons are believed study don't belong to feral pigeons. Five of these breeds: to be domesticated as early as B.C. (Glover and Ablaq (Levi, ), Krezly, Zagel, Safi and Asfer Weraq Beaumont, ) and today there are over breeds of characterize by strong homing and flying abilities and domestic pigeons, all originating from one wild source, the mainly used for certain kind of a very popular flying game rock dove (Bodio, ). Pigeons are bred for many in Egypt, whereas the last one (Romani breed) characterpurposes like meat in the form of squabs, exhibition as ize by heavy body weight and used mainly for meat fancy and ornamental, flying and sports like racing compeproduction in form of squabs.

Genetic characterization of 11 microsatellite loci in Egyptian pigeons (Columba livia domestica) and their cross-species amplification in other Columbidae populations

“…The primers and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) condition are the same as described by Ramadan et al . [ 10 ].…”

“…PCR conditions are the same as described by Ramadan et al . [ 10 ]. The PCR products were electrophoresed on an ABI 3130xl DNA Sequencer (Applied Biosystems), and the sizes of the fragments were estimated based on 400 HD Rox size marker using the GENEMAPPER software (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA).…”

“…The 10 Egyptian native indigenous pigeon breeds used in this study do not belong to feral pigeons. Eight of these breeds: Asfer Weraq, Austoraly, Reehani, Messawed, Otatti, Morasla, Halaby Asfer, and Karakandy are characterized by strong homing and flying abilities and mainly used for certain kind of a very popular flying game in Egypt [ 10 ], whereas the last two (Nemssawy and Tumbler) are used for ornamental and show purposes. In Egypt, despite the importance of this species, researches on the genetic variation and relationship of local pigeon breeds are scanty [ 10 ].…”

DNA Polymorphism within <i>LDH-A</i> Gene in Pigeon (<i>Columba livia</i>)

“…Japanese racing pigeon samples were collected from five different breeders, Chiba, Japan, whereas, Japanese wild Rock dove was collected from Rescue Center of Kyoto Municipal Zoo, Kyoto, Japan Replication Samples: To validate the finding, we genotyped a total of 62 pigeon feather samples from two groups. Thirty-one samples were collected from nine Egyptian local breeds bred mainly for flying game (Ramadan et al, 2011) and racing purposes: Zagel (n＝7), Safi (n＝4), Rehani (n＝ 3), Ablaq (n＝3), Otatti (n＝4), Morasla (n＝4), Keshk (n＝ 4), Messawed (n＝1), and Karakandy (n＝1) representing Egyptian homing group. Another thirty-one samples were collected from three Egyptian local breeds for ornamental and fancy purposes as Nemthawy (n＝24) and Egyptian exhibition Tumbler (n＝5) and for meat production in form of squabs as Romani (n＝2), where these breeds termed for simplicity non-homing group.…”

LDHA gene is associated with pigeon survivability during racing competitions

“…Since the domestication of wild rock pigeons ( Columba livia ), breeders has been using artificial selection for generating pigeons with preferred appearances and improved homing ability [ 1 , 2 ]. Such pigeons have historically been used for a variety of tasks, including the sport of pigeon racing, now popular globally [ 3 , 4 ]. The breeding of suitable racing pigeons is lucrative, with a price of $328,000 for an individual in 2012 [ 5 ].…”