Genetic diversity in Kheri—A pastoralists developed Indian sheep using microsatellite markers

108-112The Kheri sheep were analyzed using 25 ovine microsatellite markers proposed by Food and Agriculture Organization, International Society for Animal Genetics (FAO-ISAG). All the used microsatellite markers amplified well and exhibited polymorphism. Wide range of variability depicted by number of observed alleles from 2 (BM6506, CSSM47 and OarCP20) to 10 (CSSM31 and OarJMP29), observed heterozygosity from 0.087 (OarCP20) to 1.000 (OarHH35), expected heterozygosity from 0.083 (OarCP20) to 0.828 (BM1314) and Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) from 0.079 (OarCP20) to 0.806 (BM1314) supported the utility of these microsatellite loci in measurement of genetic diversity indices in Indian sheep too. The mean number of observed and effective alleles was 5.3 and 3.3, respectively. The average observed heterozygosity values (0.582) compared to the average expected heterozygosity values (0.651) did not show significant differences in the selected population (p>0.05), which suggested random mating in Kheri. The allele diversity (average number of alleles per locus) and gene diversity (average expected heterozygosity) reflected high levels of genetic variability in Kheri sheep. Within population inbreeding estimate (Fis) was significant (p