Animal Bioscience

Asian Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies (아세아태평양축산학회)
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Position of Hungarian Merino among other Merinos, within-breed genetic similarity network and markers associated with daily weight gain

  • Attila, Zsolnai (Department of Animal Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kaposvar Campus) ;
  • Istvan, Egerszegi (Department of Animal Husbandry Technology and Animal Welfare, Institute of Animal Science, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kaposvar Campus) ;
  • Laszlo, Rozsa (Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Georgikon Campus) ;
  • David, Mezoszentgyorgyi (Department of Animal Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kaposvar Campus) ;
  • Istvan, Anton (Department of Animal Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kaposvar Campus)
  • Received : 2021.10.07
  • Accepted : 2022.05.18
  • Published : 2023.01.01
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Abstract

Objective: In this study, we aimed to position the Hungarian Merino among other Merinoderived sheep breeds, explore the characteristics of our sampled animals' genetic similarity network within the breed, and highlight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with daily weight-gain. Methods: Hungarian Merino (n = 138) was genotyped on Ovine SNP50 Bead Chip (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA) and positioned among 30 Merino and Merino-derived breeds (n = 555). Population characteristics were obtained via PLINK, SVS, Admixture, and Treemix software, within-breed network was analysed with python networkx 2.3 library. Daily weight gain of Hungarian Merino was standardised to 60 days and was collected from the database of the Association of Hungarian Sheep and Goat Breeders. For the identification of loci associated with daily weight gain, a multi-locus mixed-model was used. Results: Supporting the breed's written history, the closest breeds to Hungarian Merino were Estremadura and Rambouillet (pairwise FST values are 0.035 and 0.036, respectively). Among Hungarian Merino, a highly centralised connectedness has been revealed by network analysis of pairwise values of identity-by-state, where the animal in the central node had a betweenness centrality value equal to 0.936. Probing of daily weight gain against the SNP data of Hungarian Merinos revealed five associated loci. Two of them, OAR8_17854216.1 and s42441.1 on chromosome 8 and 9 (-log10P>22, false discovery rate<5.5e-20) and one locus on chromosome 20, s28948.1 (-log10P = 13.46, false discovery rate = 4.1e-11), were close to the markers reported in other breeds concerning daily weight gain, six-month weight, and post-weaning gain. Conclusion: The position of Hungarian Merino among other Merino breeds has been determined. We have described the similarity network of the individuals to be applied in breeding practices and highlighted several markers useful for elevating the daily weight gain of Hungarian Merino.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research has received a financial grant entitled TJUGEN from the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture. The authors express their gratitude to the Association of Hungarian Sheep and Goat Breeders for providing the samples and for the supportive conversations regarding our research. Many thanks to the research of Ciani et al [3] for providing the basis of the comparison of Hungarian Merino to other sheep breeds. Thanks to Anneliese Kleinschmidt for proofreading the manuscript. Thanks to our reviewers for providing their valuable notices, comments, and questions, and many thanks to the editorial staff as well.

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