Abstract:
This study was conducted to assess the polymorphisms of beta-lactoglobulin (-Lg) and
kappa-casein (-Cn) genes and determine the effects of -Lg polymorphism on
percentage of milk fat and protein contents in indigenous goat breeds found in Tanzania.
Blood samples were collected from 22 - 24 unrelated animals for each breed. Genomic
DNA was isolated from whole blood samples using Sepa gene extraction kit with some
modifications. The -Lg and -Cn genes were amplified using Polymerase Chain
Reaction (PCR) and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) technique was
used to determine variations at the -Lg and -Cn loci. The amplified products for -Lg
and -Cn genes had the sizes of 426 and 459 bp, respectively. Digestion of β-Lg gene
using SacII endonuclease restriction enzyme revealed the presence of two common alleles
(A and B) in all goat populations. The frequency of B-allele (0.583) was higher than that
of the A-allele (0.417) for β-Lg gene in indigenous goats, while exotic goats had higher
frequency of A allele (0.688) than the B-allele (0.312). The frequencies of AA, AB and
BB genotypes were, respectively, 0.250, 0.333 and 0.417 in Gogo goats, 0.318, 0.273 and
0.409 in Pare white, 0.417, 0.333 and 0.250 in Malya, 0.500, 0.375 and 0.125 in Saanen.
The analysis of -Cn gene variation in the four goat populations indicated that there were
three alleles (A, B and C) at this locus. The observed allelic frequencies of A/B and C
were 0.917 and 0.083 in Gogo white, 0.955 and 0.045 in Pare white, 1 and 0.00 in Malya,
0.875 and 0.125 in Saanen goats, respectively. The effects of β-Lg genotypes on milk fat
and protein percentages were analyzed using a general linear model (GLM). The results
show that there was no significant effects (P>0.05) of β-Lg alleles on milk fat and protein
percentages.
