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Growth traits which are controlled by many genes are important economic traits in the poultry industry. The insulin-like growth factor gene ( IGF-I ) is a candidate gene for growth, body composition and metabolism, skeletal... more
Growth traits which are controlled by many genes are important economic traits in the poultry industry. The insulin-like growth factor gene ( IGF-I ) is a candidate gene for growth, body composition and metabolism, skeletal characteristics and growth of adipose tissue and fat deposition in chickens. The promoter and the untranslated region (UTR) of Insulin growth factor I gene was investigated to identify single nucleotide polymorphism, their genetic diversity and evolutionary relationship among six locally adapted strains of chicken in Nigerian. In this study, blood samples were collected and a specific primer pair was designed for amplifying a fragment of IGF-1 gene using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products were sequenced while nucleotide sequences generated were edited and aligned using Mega v6.0 software. Nucleotide polymorphisms within each strain were detected using DNAsp v5 software. A total of eight SNPs were identified across the populations studied which were...
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Research Interests: Genetics, Geography, Socioeconomics, Biology, Animal Breeding, and 3 morePoultry, Chickens, and Indigenous
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Background Availability of appropriate genetics is important for the development of smallholder poultry (SHP). The biological potential of improved dual purpose chicken germplasms was evaluated in Nigeria. Methods A total of six breeds... more
Background Availability of appropriate genetics is important for the development of smallholder poultry (SHP). The biological potential of improved dual purpose chicken germplasms was evaluated in Nigeria. Methods A total of six breeds (Fulani, FUNAAB Alpha, Kuroiler, Noiler, Sasso, and Shika-Brown) were tested on-station, in deep litter houses at two test centres (Public and private facility) for 504 days. Birds were fed ad libitum for the first 140 days after which restricted feeding was practised. Result Lowest and highest hatchability of eggs set was 55% (FUNAAB Alpha) and 89% (Sasso), respectively. At 140 days, male live weights were 200%–300 % higher than the local chickens (975 g) except Shika-Brown (152%) and Fulani (135%). Lowest (p < 0.05) age at first egg was 119 days for Shika-Brown and 120 days for FUNAAB Alpha and Kuroiler. Highest hen-housed egg production was 192 for Shika-Brown, and feed intake per dozen eggs was lowest (p < 0.05) for Shika-Brown (2.9 kg) and ...
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Background Sheep is important in the socio-economic lives of people around the world. It is estimated that more than half of our once common livestock breeds are now endangered. Since genetic characterization of Nigerian sheep is still... more
Background Sheep is important in the socio-economic lives of people around the world. It is estimated that more than half of our once common livestock breeds are now endangered. Since genetic characterization of Nigerian sheep is still lacking, we analyzed ten morphological traits on 402 animals and 15 microsatellite DNA markers in 384 animals of the 4 Nigerian sheep breeds to better understand genetic diversity for breeding management and germplasm conservation. Results Morphological traits of Uda and Balami were significantly (P
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The agouti-signaling protein (ASIP) plays a major role in mammalian pigmentation as an antagonist to melanocortin-1 receptor gene to stimulate pheomelanin synthesis, a major pigment conferring mammalian coat color. We sequenced a 352 bp... more
The agouti-signaling protein (ASIP) plays a major role in mammalian pigmentation as an antagonist to melanocortin-1 receptor gene to stimulate pheomelanin synthesis, a major pigment conferring mammalian coat color. We sequenced a 352 bp fragment of ASIP gene spanning part of exon 2 and part of intron 2 in 215 animals representing six goat breeds from Nigeria and the United States: West African Dwarf, predominantly black; Red Sokoto, mostly red; and Sahel, mostly white from Nigeria; black and white Alpine, brown and white Spanish and white Saanen from the US. Twenty haplotypes from nine mutations representing three intronic, one silent and five missense (p.S19R, p.N35K, p.L36V, p.M42L and p.L45W) mutations were identified in Nigerian goats. Approximately 89 % of Nigerian goats carry haplotype 1 (TGCCATCCG) which seems to be the wild type configuration of mutations in this region of the gene. Although we found no association between these polymorphisms in the ASIP gene and coat color ...
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Trypanosomosis remains a major challenge to livestock production in much of tropical Sub-Saharan Africa, while di-agnosis and treatment still depend on inefficient parasitological techniques. Endemic infections depend on animal... more
Trypanosomosis remains a major challenge to livestock production in much of tropical Sub-Saharan Africa, while di-agnosis and treatment still depend on inefficient parasitological techniques. Endemic infections depend on animal res-ervoirs with subclinical parasitemia. We report molecular diagnosis of subclinical Trypanosoma vivax (T. vivax) infec-tion using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the first time in Nigerian goats and associate parasite presence with gross physiological traits and serum metabolites in extensively managed Nigerian goats. PCR was used to amplify a 400 bp DNA fragment of the parasite genome in 205 goats across three geographical zones of the country. Results showed a high subclinical infection rate (SCIR) of 71.7 % in the total goats examined. Overall SCIRs of 71%, 75.9 % and 55.6% were recorded in West African Dwarf, Red Sokoto and Sahel goats respectively, while geographical SCIRs were 71.2%
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... These were upgraded to Performance Testing Stations in 1960. ... The programmes changed to utilization of crossbreds and the evaluation of breeding values and use of Artificial Insemination ... with the Yorkshire and Duroc used as... more
... These were upgraded to Performance Testing Stations in 1960. ... The programmes changed to utilization of crossbreds and the evaluation of breeding values and use of Artificial Insemination ... with the Yorkshire and Duroc used as male lines and the Dutch Landrace as female line ...
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A Paper Presented at the 44th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Society for Animal Production from March 17 – 21, 2019 Abuja, Nigeria.
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This study was embarked upon to characterise phenotypically helmeted guinea fowls in three agro-ecologies in Nigeria using multivariate approach. Eighteen biometric characters, four morphological indices and eleven qualitative... more
This study was embarked upon to characterise phenotypically helmeted guinea fowls in three agro-ecologies in Nigeria using multivariate approach. Eighteen biometric characters, four morphological indices and eleven qualitative (phaneroptic) traits were investigated in a total of 569 adult birds (158 males and 411 females). Descriptive statistics, non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis H test followed by the Mann–Whitney U test for post hoc, Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), General Linear Model, Canonical Discriminant Analysis, Categorical Principal Component Analysis and Decision Trees were employed to discern the effects of agro-ecological zone and sex on the morphostructural parameters. Agro-ecology had significant effect (P<0.05; P <0.01) on all the colour traits. In general, the most frequently observed colour phenotype of guinea fowl had pearl plumage colour (54.0%), pale red skin colour (94.2%), black shank colour (68.7%), brown eye colour (49.7%), white earlobe colour (54...
This study was conducted to assess the population and genetic diversity of TNFRSF1A and zyxin genes among the Nigerian indigenous (Naked neck, Normal and Frizzle feather) and Nera Black chickens (exotic chicken). Blood samples were... more
This study was conducted to assess the population and genetic diversity of TNFRSF1A and zyxin genes among the Nigerian indigenous (Naked neck, Normal and Frizzle feather) and Nera Black chickens (exotic chicken). Blood samples were collected from 400 chickens belonging to the genotypes described above and genomic DNA extracted using commercially available kit. Genomic regions containing zyxin and TNFRSF1A genes were amplified, sequenced and analyzed using Bioedit, DnaSP, MEGA and PANTHER software. The results from analysis revealed that Naked neck and Normal feather chickens had the highest mean value of nucleotide substitutions per sites (Dxy) (0.081), while Frizzle and Nera Black local chickens had the lowest Dxy value of 0.065 for TNFRSF1A gene sequences. The results from the analysis of zyxin gene sequence revealed that Frizzle and Normal feather chickens had the highest Dxy (0.6551), while Normal feather and Naked neck chickens had the lowest Dxy (0.0739). Nera Black chickens T...
Body weight is one of the most important phenotypic parameters in poultry production as heavy meat birds attract good market value compare to their light breed counterpart. of chicken at the early stage of growth in order to assist the... more
Body weight is one of the most important phenotypic parameters in poultry production as heavy meat birds attract good market value compare to their light breed counterpart. of chicken at the early stage of growth in order to assist the poultry farmers during the rearing stage. A total of 300 Oba Marshall, 300 Arbor Acre, 300 Fα broiler, 300 Fα X Ms, 300 Fα X AB, 300 Ms X Fα and 300 AB X Fα crossbred chicks of both sexes were used to evaluate variations in the body weight of Fα broiler, its crossbreds and two other exotic chickens using Gompertz and Von Bertalanffy growth models. Body weights of the chicks were taken on weekly basis using sensitive weighing balance till they attained 10 weeks of age. The two Non-Linear Models were fitted to the weight-age data from day old till 10 weeks of age for each bird using ‘Doesn’t Use Derivative method of SAS (2002) to estimate parameters of all the models in order to predict the weight of the birds at early stage. Results revealed that body...
The study was designed to investigate the association of Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene polymorphism with the reproductive performance of FUNAAB-Alpha, Sasso, and Kuroiler dual-purpose chicken breeds. To achieve this, a total of... more
The study was designed to investigate the association of Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene polymorphism with the reproductive performance of FUNAAB-Alpha, Sasso, and Kuroiler dual-purpose chicken breeds. To achieve this, a total of 250 healthy hens were selected at 12 weeks of age and were intensively managed in cages for 52 weeks. Blood sample was taken from each chicken at the 34th week and genomic DNA was extracted using Qiagentm DNA extraction kit, PCR was used to amplify the DNA fragments, and the PCR products were electrophoresed. Amplicons obtained were digested with restriction enzyme hinf1, and were further electrophoresed on 1.5% agarose gel. Data obtained were analyzed using the General linear model of SAS (2002) version 9.0 to determine the effect of IGF1 gene polymorphism and the distribution of alleles within the breeds. Results show polymorphism of the IGF1 gene and the restriction analysis indicated two alleles; A 58% and C 42% with the identification of genot...
This study aimed to assess the relationship among carcass traits of meat line FUNAAB Alpha chicken genotype, to identify the components that defined bled weight in them using multivariate principal component regression. A total of 14... more
This study aimed to assess the relationship among carcass traits of meat line FUNAAB Alpha chicken genotype, to identify the components that defined bled weight in them using multivariate principal component regression. A total of 14 different carcass traits from sixty-eight birds were recorded and subjected to one-way analysis of variance to vet for sex effect. Phenotypic relationships among the carcass traits were also established to pave way for the principal component analysis. The results reveal significant effects between the traits measured. The male significantly (P<0.05) had greater mean values for the traits measured. Correlations among the considered carcass traits were found to be positive and significant ranging from r = 0.406 (LrWt) - 0.981 (EdWt) for the female chicken; r = 0.330 (Head Wt) - 0.978 (BdWt) for the male chicken. The extracted components PC1 to PC7 contributed 95.66% with PC1 accounting for 68.68% of the variability in the original parameters. Communal...
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Doce cabras no preñadas (West African Dwarf, WAD y Red Sokoto, RS) fueron empleadas para investigar el efecto de la restricción volumétrica (0%, 33% and 67%) del suministro de agua sobre la ingestión de alimento y ganancia de peso durante... more
Doce cabras no preñadas (West African Dwarf, WAD y Red Sokoto, RS) fueron empleadas para investigar el efecto de la restricción volumétrica (0%, 33% and 67%) del suministro de agua sobre la ingestión de alimento y ganancia de peso durante ocho semanas. Los animales se agruparon por edad en menores y mayores de un año. El experimento se dispuso según un diseño cruzado, modificado con tres periodos de tratamiento de una semana cada uno. Entre cada periodo se intercaló uno de lavado de dos semanas durante el que se eliminaba el efecto del experimento precedente. La ingestión media de agua (WI) fue determinada para los siete primeros dias del experimento durante los cuales a todos los animales se suministraba agua ad libitum. Los tratamientos fueron: (i) suministro de agua ad libitum, (ii) reducción del 33% sobre la ingestión media y (iii) 67% de reducción. El agua bebida mostró correlación positiva (p
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Cinco mil ciento diecinueve pollos fueron obtenidos, en un programa de mejora de pollos de engorde, a partir de una combinación dialélica de cuatro razas: Anak Titan (A), Alpha (B), Giriraja (G) y Normal indígena (N). Los pollos fueron... more
Cinco mil ciento diecinueve pollos fueron obtenidos, en un programa de mejora de pollos de engorde, a partir de una combinación dialélica de cuatro razas: Anak Titan (A), Alpha (B), Giriraja (G) y Normal indígena (N). Los pollos fueron criados a 12 semanas en las que se registraron los datos sobre peso corporal por semana (BW), circunferencia del pecho (BG) y longitud de la tibia (TL). El genotipo de machos y hembras afectó significativamente (p
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An experiment was carried out to determine the growth performance of different crossbred broilers and egg line, and to investigate the effect of genotype (Marshal, Anak Titan, Giriraja, Rhode Island Red cocks, indigenous pullets and... more
An experiment was carried out to determine the growth performance of different crossbred broilers and egg line, and to investigate the effect of genotype (Marshal, Anak Titan, Giriraja, Rhode Island Red cocks, indigenous pullets and exotic dihybrid and trihybrid crosses) on body weight gain. Data were collected for a period of five months. Results showed that with the effect of sire genotype on body weight, Marshal cross has the highest body weight of 1780.50±186.16 g at twenty weeks of age, while Rhode Island Red cross has the lowest mean value of 1287.25±53.55 g. With the effect of dam genotype, dihybrid has the highest body weight with a value of 1663.0±0.00 g at twenty weeks of age, followed by Normal and Anak Titan, respectively. The crossbreds of Marshal sire and Anak Titan dam showed the highest mean body weight of 1909.33±186.10 g at twenty weeks of age; also crosses of Marshal sire and Anak Titan dam produced eggs with the most significant mean weight of 60.00±0.30 g for eg...
A total of 357 progenies (both sexes) produced by 23 sires belonging to 4 sire strains; 3 Nigerian indigenous (Naked-Neck, Frizzle and Normal) and an exotic purebred (White Leghorn) chickens were evaluated for growth traits at day-old, 4,... more
A total of 357 progenies (both sexes) produced by 23 sires belonging to 4 sire strains; 3 Nigerian indigenous (Naked-Neck, Frizzle and Normal) and an exotic purebred (White Leghorn) chickens were evaluated for growth traits at day-old, 4, 8, 16 and 20 weeks of age. The growth traits measured were body weight (BDW), body length (BDL), Breast Girth (BG) and Keel Length (KL). Sire genotypes significantly (p0.05). Significant differences were also recorded for sex for each of the growth traits at different ages (p<0.05). Progenies of Naked Neck sire were generally superior in BDW followed by Frizzle, Normal and White Leghorn progenies. Male progenies were significantly (p<0.05) heavier and possess higher linear body measurements than their female counterpart in all age except KL at day-old and 20 week of age. The significance (p<0.05) of sire x sex interactions on growth traits varied with age. This study revealed the existence of genetic variations and potential for improvemen...
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The genetic diversity of the three major artificially propagated populations of Chinese sucker, an endangered freshwater fish species, was investigated using the sequences of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control regions. Among the 89... more
The genetic diversity of the three major artificially propagated populations of Chinese sucker, an endangered freshwater fish species, was investigated using the sequences of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control regions. Among the 89 individuals tested, 66 variable sites (7.26%) and 10 haplotypes were detected (Haplotype diversity Hd = 0.805, Nucleotide diversity π = 0.0287). In general, genetic diversity was lower in artificially propagated populations than in wild populations. This reduction in genetic diversity may be due to population bottlenecks, genetic drift and human selection. A stepping-stone pattern of gene flow was detected in the populations studied, showing much higher gene flow between neighbouring populations. To increase the genetic diversity, wild lineages should be introduced, and more lineages should be shared among artificially propagated populations.
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SummaryThe Muturu, a trypanotolerant cattle breed is probably one of the least known breed of cattle in West Africa. Little has been published on its distribution, management, morphological characteristics or biological performance.Early... more
SummaryThe Muturu, a trypanotolerant cattle breed is probably one of the least known breed of cattle in West Africa. Little has been published on its distribution, management, morphological characteristics or biological performance.Early reports showed that the Muturu cattle were once widely distributed across the continent from Liberia, across the West African subregion, to Ethiopia. However, due to expansion of the Zebu population and rapid urbanization, the small bodied animal came under pressure and was found surviving in pockets of the savannahs and in the humid forest zones where it had the comparative advantage of trypanotolerance. The survival of the cattle in the humid and forest zones of Nigeria stems from the fact that the animal is still sacred in so many communities and its milk is widely used for medicinal purposes. In some states of Nigeria, the semi-feral Muturu are not tended but hunted when required for sacrifice.From a population size of 0.4 million heads in 1960,...