PHENOTYPIC AND GENE FREQUENCIES OF QUALITATIVE TRAITS IN INDIGENIOUS SHEEP OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Three hundred and seventy eight (378) adult semi-intensively managed indigenous sheep randomly sampled in the three administrative zones (A, B, C) of Niger State, Nigeria were used to investigate the distribution and frequencies of selected qualitative traits. The animals were scored for presence or absence of wattle, horn and hair type. the objective of the study was to evaluate the phenotypic and gene frequencies of some qualitative traits in the indigenous sheep population. Results showed that calculated gene frequencies of wattle, horn and hair type: 0.09, 0.06 and 0.06; 0.31, 0.30 and 0.06; 0.40, 0.49 and 0.46 for zones A, B and C was significantly (p<0.05) lower than expected Mendelian value of 0.75 for dominant alleles. The result credibly suggest that genes evaluated (wattle, horn and hair type) were not in Mendelian proportions.