Parental reconstruction in rural goat population with microsatellite markers

Proper knowledge about individual origin and pedigree is a major point for animal breeding and livestock genetic improvement. Mainly for goat, but also for sheep breeding in Sicily information on these points is limited, and sometimes even misleading. Goat milk production is, in many regions and especially in Sicily, a rural enterprise, where males and females graze together and pedigree of offspring can be largely unknown. Genetic improvement in this situation is challenging. Modern DNA techniques can help to identify the parentage (PI, parental identification). In this paper we discuss: i) our set of microsatel-lites markers in relation to the ECONOGENE set; ii) accuracy of microsatellite genotyping for a goat breed; iii) the principle of verification and identification as tested on one goat breeding farm; iv) direct use of the technique in a running goat breeding program. For a practical application we suggest the use of around 20 quality microsatellite markers, and the use of primiparous milk analysis. In our data set originating from one farm (184 records) for parental verification 17% parent pairs were considered erratic. Parental identification allowed for successful assignment of 49 parent pairs.