Genetic and Phenotypic Characterization of Domestic Geese (Anser anser) in Egypt

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to achieve phenotypic characterization of three domestic Egyptian goose populations collected from three different geographical zones (Kafr El-Sheikh, Fayoum and Luxor) and to perform genetic characterization of these three populations based on mtDNA D-loop and 12 microsatellite markers. The body measurements of 402 domestic mature geese belonging to these three governorates showed that the lengths of the head, culmen and tarsus and the live body weight varied significantly among the three studied Egyptian goose populations. After alignment of a 710-base-pair segment of the goose mtDNA control region, there was a single haplotype in the three Egyptian goose populations, indicating the same maternal origins. The genotyping of the 12 microsatellite markers showed low diversity indices, including average observed (NA) and effective (NE) number of alleles and observed (HO) and expected heterozygosity (HE) (3.333, 1.760, 0.277 and 0.352, respectively), and a high inbreeding coefficient (FIS = 0.203) across the three Egyptian goose populations. The high inbreeding and low genetic and morphological differentiation of Egyptian geese could be corrected by establishing a large base population through capturing small populations with the highest genetic variation. The findings of the current study can therefore serve as an initial guide to design further investigations for developing conservation programs of Egyptian geese genetic resources.

Assessment of variations in productive performance of two different plumage color varieties of Japanese quail and their reciprocal crosses

“…In this regard, the average number of alleles ranged from 1 to 4 with a range of N e form 1.00 to 2.90. This small range of N A probably explains the less genetic variation among the studied quail populations which might be explained by the small sample size of those quail populations that might predispose the genetic drift and inbreeding (Abdel-Kafy et al 2021 ). Although there were small N A and N e ranges which might indicate low genetic variation, the level of H O and H e varied from 0.00 to 0.75 without deviation from HWE in most of the studied quail populations indicating that these quail populations were in HWE.…”

“…The genetic variation can be assessed depending on many genetic diversity indices such as the observed and the effective number of alleles ( N A and N e , respectively) as they give an indication on the difference in allele frequency in a population (Abdel-Kafy et al 2021 ). In this regard, the average number of alleles ranged from 1 to 4 with a range of N e form 1.00 to 2.90.…”

Genetic and phenotypic variations of Productive Performance of two different plumage-color strains of Japanese quail

“…In this regard, the average number of alleles ranged from 1 to 4 with a range of Ne was 1.00 to 2.90. This small range of NA probably explain the less genetic variation among the studied quail's populations which might be explained by the small sample size of those quail's populations, that might predispose the genetic drift and inbreeding [29]. Although there were small NA and Ne ranges which might indicate low genetic variation, the level of HO and He was high without deviation from HWE in most of studied quail's populations indicating that these quail's population were in HWE.…”

“…Although there were small NA and Ne ranges which might indicate low genetic variation, the level of HO and He was high without deviation from HWE in most of studied quail's populations indicating that these quail's population were in HWE. However, the WW and WB quails had the lowest level of heterozygosity as con rmed by low values of Ho and a signi cant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), which might indicate a possibility of a non-random mating and inbreeding in the WW and WB quails [29]. This was con rmed by the high positive values of heterozygosity de cit index (FIS).…”

“…The genetic variation can be assessed depending on many genetic diversity indices such as the observed and the effective number of alleles (NA & Ne, respectively) as they give an indication on the difference in allele frequency in a population [29]. In this regard, the average number of alleles ranged from 1 to 4 with a range of Ne was 1.00 to 2.90.…”