Evaluation of Pakistani goat breeds for genetic resistance to <i>Haemonchus contortus</i>

Babar, Masroor Ellahi; Hussain, Tanveer; Ahmad, Muhammad Sarfraz; Ali, Akhtar; Abbas, Kamran; Ali, Muhammad Muddassir

doi:10.2754/avb201584030231

Acta Veterinaria > Archive > 2015, Vol. 84 > Issue 3 > Evaluation of Pakistani goat breeds for…

Acta Vet. Brno 2015, 84: 231-235

https://doi.org/10.2754/avb201584030231

Evaluation of Pakistani goat breeds for genetic resistance to Haemonchus contortus

Masroor Ellahi Babar¹, Tanveer Hussain¹, Muhammad Sarfraz Ahmad², Akhtar Ali³, Kamran Abbas³, Muhammad Muddassir Ali⁴

¹Virtual University of Pakistan, Department of Bioinformatics, Lahore, Pakistan
²Provincial Diagnostic Laboratory, Department of Livestock and Dairy Development, Lahore, Pakistan
³University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Lahore, Pakistan
⁴Afyon Kocatepe University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

Received April 7, 2014
Accepted October 22, 2014

This study aimed to evaluate the genetic resistance of Pakistani goat breeds (Beetal, Teddy, Angora, Nachi) against Haemonchus contortus. In total, 13 animals of each breed, irrespective of sex, were selected. Following artificial infection with 5000 L3 (third stage) larvae of Haemonchus contortus to each animal, susceptibility and resistance of each breed was then assessed on the basis of body weight, feacal egg counts, packed cell volume and FAMACHA system on days 0, 28, 35, and 42. Variation in response of all goat breeds to H. contortus was observed. Better resistance was observed in Teddy and Beetal breeds (P < 0.05) followed by Nachi and Angora breeds. Genetic diversity was noted among these four goat breeds which could be explored further to minimize the use of anthelmintics and to exploit the genetic potential of the different goat breeds.

Keywords

Genetic variability, FAMACHA, Beetal goat, packed cell volume.

Funding

The International Atomic Energy Agency is acknowledged for funding this study under Coordinated Research Program, Identification of Molecular Markers for Internal Nematode Resistance in Sheep and Goat Breeds of Pakistan. We appreciate the Livestock and Dairy Development Department, Punjab for facilitation at farm level and the Department of Parasitology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, and the Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore for helping in culture of Haemonchus.