Abstract

This paper describes genetic diversity between and within the indigenous Landim and Pafuri goat breeds from Mozambique, with reference to the unimproved South African Boer goat, the paternal ancestor of the Pafuri breed. Microsatellite polymorphism was used to quantify genetic diversity and drift. Heterozygosity (Hz) in three populations of the Landim breed were closely comparable (Hz = 0.588 - 0.623), with a higher Hz value of 0.672 in Pafuri, the latter most likely reflecting the influence of the Boer goat. Allelic richness values supported this trend. Drift among individual Landim populations was low (Fst = 0.046-0.059) compared to Fst = 0.077-0.091 between the Pafuri breed and individual Landim populations, again reflecting introgression of Boer goat genetic material. The Landim populations also clustered together in a consensus neighbour-joining tree, with the Pafuri breed slightly distant and the Boer goat most distant from the Landim breed. A Bayesian assignment test placed the majority of Pafuri and Boer goat animals in a common cluster, with the Landim individuals spread over three additional clusters. The results are discussed with reference to the importance of conserving local breeds and the influence of marker sample size on statistical analysis.

Key words: Landim, Pafuri, genetic structure, Mozambique, goat.