In Mali, Maure’s zebu breed has good dairy production abilities. Females are often used as a matrix in crosses in peri-urban areas with exotic breeds. Despite the enthusiasm of its productive abilities, the genetic diversity of this breed is not yet sufficiently assessed. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the genetic diversity of this breed, 82 animals were chosen from the farms of four districts in two regions in Mali for genetic evaluation using Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) markers. Results from the investigations identified a total of 41 alleles with an average of 3.15 alleles per locus. The Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) was ranged from 0.293 (ILSTS011) to 0.786 (HEL5) with a mean of 0.528. By locus, the means of observed heterozygosity (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) were 0.400±0,032 and 0.416±0,026, respectively. Likewise, by subpopulation, their values varied respectively from 0.379 ± 0.057 (Kayes) to 0.417 ± 0.070 (Niono) for the observed heterozygosity and from 0.360 ± 0.068 (Baraouéli) to 0.454 ± 0.049 (Dièma) for l Expected heterozygosity. The overall mean of genetic differentiation (Fst) was moderate indicating 9% of the genetic deviation corresponded to differences between subpopulations. This study will strengthen knowledge on the genetic diversity of Maure zebus for the better strategy adoption for its conservation and promotion.

Keywords: Maure zebu, genetic, variability, SSR markers, Mali.