Haemoglobin Polymorphism, Inbreeding Coefficient of Heterozygosity of Selected Animals in Kogi State University Livestock Farm

Abstract

Sixty five animals (10 sheep, 30 goats and 25 cattle) were used to evaluate haemoglobin (Hb) polymorphism, local inbreeding coefficient and degree of Heterozygosity in animals reared at the livestock farm of Kogi state University, Anyigba using cellulose acetate gel electrophoresis. Results showed that HbAB was predominant in cattle (0.52) followed by HbBB (0.32) and HbAA (0.16) with a gene frequency of 0.42 and 0.58 for A and B gene locus, respectively. In sheep, only HbAA was observed in the animal sampled with genotype frequency of 1.00 and gene frequency of 1.00. in goats, HbAA was more with genotype frequency of 0.80, followed by HbAB (0.20) while HbBB was not observed. The gene frequency for the A and B locus were 0.90 and 0.10 respectively. The local inbreeding coefficient and expected Heterozygosity were: cattle (-0.80 and 0.48), sheep (0.00 and 0.00) and goats (-0.11and 0.18) respectively. It was concluded that all the genotypes evaluated were Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium as there were no significant differences observed between the observed and expected genotypes. Keywords: Haemoglobin, inbreeding coefficient, Heterozygosity, cattle, sheep, goat.