Frequencies of the Transferrin Alleles and Genotypes in West African Dwarf Goats of Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the frequencies of Transferrin alleles and genotypes in West African
Dwarf (WAD) goat. 140 adult WAD goats, maintained in four Southwestern States of Nigeria were used in the
study. The polymorphism of transferrin was determined using Cellulose Acetate electrophoresis technique. It was
found that the transferrin was controlled by two codominant alleles (TfA and TfB) in WAD goats. These two
alleles, because of the codominant nature of inheritance, control the occurrence of three transferrin genotypes in
the analyzed populations. The first two (TfAA and TfBB) were homozygous while the third one (TfAB) was
heterozygous. The TfAB genotype was predominant with frequency of 0.90, 1.00, 0.87 and 0.55 in Ogun, Ondo,
Osun and Oyo States respectively with a mean frequency of 0.83±0.20 while TfBB genotype was least common
except for population from Osun State with a frequency of 0.05, 0.00, 0.22 and 0.15 in Ogun, Ondo, Osun and
Oyo States respectively with a mean frequency of 0.08±0.07. The frequencies of transferrin alleles were 0.50,
0.50, 0.45 and 0.58 for TfA and 0.50, 0.50, 0.55and 0.43 for TfB in Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States
respectively with a mean frequency of 0.49±0.05. Transferrin system showed genetic equilibrium in the analyzed
population (χ2 value = 1.780). The observed heterozygosity was 0.91, 1.00, 0.87 and 0.55 43 in Ogun, Ondo,
Osun and Oyo States respectively with a mean frequency of 0.84 and average Fis value of -0.67.