VARIATIONS IN MYOSTATIN HAEMOGLOBINS AND MORPHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS IN THREE BREEDS OF RABBIT

Abstract

Long term reliance on genotyping alone is not enough in selection and it has to be complimented by using the morphometric attributes. Hence, variation in Myostatin haemoglobins and morphometric parameters in three breeds of rabbit was investigated. There have been instances where genotypic expressions alone or morphometric attributes alone will not be enough to identify the breeds of an animal, hence other criteria have to be brought in so that a breed cannot be misrepresented for another breed.The three different breeds of rabbit used were: Hyla, New Zealand White and Cinnamon. Morphometric parameters (head length, head width, chest circumference, ear width, chest depth, chest width, Humerus, tibia, femorus, width of spine, radius and ulna, head height, ear length and length of spine) were taken from the rabbits across the three breeds using a measuring tape while blood samples were also collected on Whattman filter papers. The rabbits were intensively raised for 16 weeks. Blood samples were collected and taken to the Biotech laboratory for haemoglobin assay using electrophoresis and Myostatin genotyping using standard procedures. Morphometric parameters (head length, head width, chest circumference, ear width, chest depth, chest width, Humerus, tibia, femorus, width of spine, radius and ulna, head height, ear length and length of spine) were all taken using measuring tape. DNA extraction was carried out using Blood-Plant Animal DNA preparation kit following standard procedures. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) according to SAS (2004) and means were separated using new Duncan multiple range test. The results confirmed that the three rabbit breeds exhibited both Myostatin genotypes AA and BB whereas the AB, AO and OO genotypes were not observed among the rabbit breeds. The three breeds examined exhibited Myostatin haemoglobins AA and BB and were identical for some morphometric parameters such as Head Length, Head Width, Chest Circumference, Ear Width, Chest Depth, Chest Width, Humerus, Tibia and Femoris.