Characterization of a new potential goat breed (Palamu) from Jharkhand, India

Abstract

Palamu goat forms the part and parcel of the lives of the farmers and tribes of Jharkhand. Palamu goat also known as Medini is named after its distribution area (Palamu, Latehar and Garhwa) in Jharkhand. This small size goat is reared in Jharkhand since time immemorial. Average flock size is 5.36±0.19 and varies from 1 to 31. Twinning is common except in first kidding. Head profile is convex, ears are pendulous, and horns are straight with backward and upward orientation. Muzzle, eyelids and hooves are black, body is cylindrical, udder is small and pendulous and teats are conical shaped. Age at first mating in males is 8.32±0.86 (months) that vary between 7.2– 9.2 months. Corresponding values for female are 7.22±1.35 months varying between 6.7–7.7 months. Diversity status of the population was explored using 25 microsatellite markers. A total of 190 alleles were detected and sufficient polymorphism was evident from the allele frequency data. ILSTS82 showed the highest number of observed alleles per locus (20) while RM4 and ILSTS05 showed the lowest (4) with 9.14±2.0 as mean number of alleles. Expected number of alleles varied from 1.49 (ILSTS065) to 7.55 (ILSTS30) with the mean value of 4.15±0.91. Palamu goat had substantial genetic variation based on its gene diversity in addition to the average number of alleles per locus. The observed and expected heterozygosity values were 0.64±0.14 and 0.69±0.15, respectively. Observed heterozygosity was lower than expected showing a departure from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) and possibility of inbreeding. Population has heterozygote deficiency to the tune of 9% (FIS value=0.09). Population did not suffer from recent genetic bottleneck (last 40–80 generations). The results suggest existence of a distinct goat population harboring sufficient genetic variation for scientific management.

Morphologic and morphometric characterization of local goats raised in low input system under sub-tropical climate of India

“…Presence of horn indicates adaptation under extensive system as goats had to ght with their competitors for feed, water and breeding partners. The straight horn with upward-backward orientation has been reported in most of the Indian goat breed(Verma et al 2009;Verma et al 2010;Kuralkar et al 2013;Sharma et al 2020) and appears to be common. In contrast, at, curved, twisted/spiral and upward-backward-outward oriented horns of studied goat population is appears to be unique.…”

“…The morphologic and/or molecular characterization has led to the identi cation of 34 genetically distinct populations/breeds of Indian indigenous goats till date (https://www.icar.org.in/) which accounts for 41% of total goat population. The remaining 59% of total goat population are yet to be charecterized (Sharma et al, 2020). The goat population of Vindhyan region are still uncharacterized and considered as nondescript, resulting in lack of valuable informations.…”

“…The shape, size and orientation of ears are inconsistent in literatures(Verma et al. 2009; Verma et al 2010; Bhuarya et al 2014; Verma and Mishra, 2014; Verma et al 2015; Singh et al 2019;Sharma et al 2020). Beard was found to be present in 36.14%, indicating one of the characteristic traits of studied goat population.…”

“…Furthermore, twinning indicates that this goat population has potential to be proli c but unfortunately no any strategy has been implemented yet for improving the breeding and production. Multiple births have also recorded in other breeds of goat such as Berari (twinng-57%; triplet-2%), Palamau (twinng-50%) and Malabari (twinng-50%; triplet-25%) goats(Verma et al 2009;Kuralkar et al, 2013;Sharma et al 2020). The average daily milk production (227.3 g/day) and dressing % (47.08%) was found to be nearly equal to the Palamau goat(Sharma et al 2020) whereas milk production (533.28 g/day) was comparatively higher in Berari goats…”