The Genetic Assessment of South African Nguni Sheep Breeds Using the Ovine 50K Chip

The indigenous sheep breeds of South Africa, such as the Nguni, are well adapted to different ecological regions throughout country. This has resulted into ecotypes. However, it is not clear if differences among Nguni genetically distinct. present study aimed use latest technology assess genetic relationship between ecotypes and other selected African using SNP markers. In current study, 144 samples (75 69 mixed-breed a reference) were genotyped OvineSNP50 Bead Chip assay from Illumina. consisted 25 Pedi, Swazi, Zulu sheep, with reference group comprising Namaqua, 23 Dorper, 21 Damara sheep. After quality control 54,241 SNPs, 48,429 SNPs remained for analysis (MAF > 0.05). There in population; notably, Swazi populations clustered together, but distinction Pedi ecotype. Genetic admixtures detected Dorper most likely consequence recent intermixing commercial breeds. levels diversity within individual types generally lower compared revealed an understanding regarding variation breeds, which can be used baseline information establishing conservation breeding programmes.