Vol. 11, Special Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
Dr. B Rajith Reddy, Dr. ST Viroji Rao, Dr. D Sakaram, Dr. Y Narsimha Reddy and Dr. K Narmada

Abstract:
Sheep are one of the most essential livestock species for resource-poor farmers in rural areas of arid and semi-arid climates, especially where crop and dairy farming are not economically viable. Polymorphisms in the sheep GH gene have been studied to better understand the population's genetic diversity and its utility in improving economic features. If this polymorphism is linked to economic qualities, it can be used as a foundation for improving animal output through selection. A total of about 50 unrelated animals of Nellore brown sheep belonging to different flocks including, Livestock Research Station (LRS), Mamnoor, Instructional Livestock Farm Complex (ILFC), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad and farmers flocks from Shamshabad region of Ranga Reddy district were screened to explore the polymorphism of exon-5 and 3ꞌ UTR of growth hormone (GH) gene using PCR-SSCP technique. The PCR-SSCP yielded two conformational patterns 11 and 12 in exon-5 (480 bp) corresponding two alleles 1 and 2. The PCR-SSCP of 3ꞌ UTR (320 bp) yielded two SSCP patterns 12 and 13 corresponding to three allelic variants 1, 2 and 3. No significant differences were observed between different SSCP genotypes for the morphometric and body weights at 12 months age.