POPULATION STRUCTURE AND INBREEDING RATE OF INDIGENOUS PIG IN SOME COMMUNITIES OF NASARAWA STATE

Abstract

The study was carried out in some selected communities of Nasarawa state, north central Nigeria to characterize the population structure and to identify inbreeding rate among indigenous pig herds. Data were gathered through survey and direct count. The pigs were classified into sex, age, state of maturity and physiological status. The effective population size (Ne) and rate of inbreeding (AF) were calculated from the counted population structure data. The population structure was dominated by younger age group with male piglet having the highest number on the average per household. The effective population size varies between 54.1 to 106.2 while the inbreeding rate for the populations were between 0.002 to 0.018. Inbreeding rate was at a low level and the effective population size was also small an indication of threat in the genetic diversity of the population and possible decline in performance, thus the need for effective breeding and conservation programme to sustain the diversity and increase population size.