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Abstract
Background: Kachhi sheep is an important medium sized, thin tailed breed of Sindh province of Pakistan. Despite having great importance and contribution in mutton, milk, wool production, and adaptation to harsh environments, Reproductive performance, especially fecundity, plays a key role in improving flock productivity and farmers’ income. research on its genetic characterization is scant. It is therefore, seemed appropriate to plan a study on fecundity to observe the genetic polymorphism in Kachhi sheep based on BMP-15 and GDF-9 genes.
Methodology: A total of 150 adult Kachhi sheep from different study areas (Hyderabad, Matiary, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Umerkot and Tharparkar) of Sindh province were selected for study purpose. Blood samples from selected animals were taken from the jugular vein aseptically. DNA was extracted from whole blood. DNA fragments with size of 141bp and 462bp for the BMP-15 and GDF-9 gene were amplified by using PCR with specific primers, respectively. Results: It was revealed that wild type homozygous genotype frequency of BMP15 gene was recorded higher in Tharparkar and Umerkot and little bit higher heterozygous genotype frequency was observed in Mirpurkhas. After the digestion of PCR products of GDF9 gene with Hha1 restriction enzyme, the wild type of homozygous genotype frequency of GDF9 gene of Kachhi sheep was recorded higher in Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar and little bit higher heterozygous genotype frequency was observed in Hyderabad. Conclusion: Based on the results it was concluded that most of the studied sheep population possess wild type homozygous genotype, however a little bit heterozygous genotype was also recorded in BMP15 and GDF9 genes of Kachhi sheep.