Abstract :
This study was carried out to study the genetic relationship among nine (9) West African
goat breeds out of which 6 (Guinea dwarf, Kirdi, Ghana dwarf, Mossi, Togo dwarf, Senegal
dwarf) were of the trypanotolerant type and 3 (Mali Sahel, Mauritania Sahel, Chad Sahel)
were of the trypanosusceptible type. One hundred ninety nine (199) animals were genotyped
using 10 microsatellites. The microsatellites loci analysed were highly polymorphic
with a mean number of alleles of 11.7±3.7 ranging from 6 to 20. Observed heterozygosities
ranged from 0.603±0.164 (Togo dwarf) to 0.726±0.166 (Chad Sahel). It was lower than
expected heterozygosity in most of the breeds indicating a deviation from Hardy Weinberg
equilibrium. The Fst measure of genetic distance between pairs of populations showed the
highest distance (0.098) between Kirdi and Guinea dwarf which presented an isolated position
from the other breeds and the lowest distance (0.025) between Togo dwarf and Mossi.
Our study showed that the genetic relationships among the concerned breeds correspond
to their geographical distribution. In addition, Guinea dwarf is strongly separated from the
other breeds.
