Understanding the genetic basis of locally adapted indigenous cattle populations is essential to design appropriate strategies and programs for their genetic improvement and conservation. Here, we report genetic diversity measures, population differentiation, and structure of 218 animals sampled from six indicine cattle populations of Bangladesh. Animals were genotyped with Illumina Bovine SNP50K BeadChip along with genotyped data of 505 individuals included from 19 zebu and taurine breeds worldwide. The principal component analysis (PCA) showed clear geographic separation between taurine and indicine lineages where Bangladeshi indigenous cattle clustered with South Asian zebu populations. However, overlapped clusters in PCA, heterozygosity estimates, and Neighbor-Joining phylogenetic tree analysis revealed weak genetic differentiation among the indigenous cattle populations of Bangladesh. The admixture analysis at K = 5 and 9 suggests distinct genetic structure of the studied populations along with 1 to 4% of taurine ancestry. The effective population size suggested a limited pool of ancestors particularly for Sahiwal and North Bengal Grey cattle. In conclusion, these findings shed insights into the genetic architecture of six indigenous cattle populations of Bangladesh for the first time and suggested as distinct gene pools without potential admixture with zebu or taurine populations.

Uniquely selected breeds bred over thousands of years of domestication in a wide range of environments have been declared extinct over the last century. Still more breeds are at risk of becoming extinct and the rate continues to accelerate. Assessing the current status and possible future dynamics of livestock breeds is therefore a critical step in the management of Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR). This study applies a qualitative approach to comprehensively analyze cattle genetic resources in selected countries in order to better understand the risk status of cattle breeds and those that need to be considered extinct and/or quasi-extant. The status of each breed, i.e., not at risk, critical, endangered and extinct, was verified using information available at the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS) web site, as well as cattle statistics (where available) and a breed survey. In most examples, breeds listed as extinct have played important roles in the development of new breeds, and should not be classified as extinct, unless proven otherwise, given that even breeds existing in vivo are developing. Therefore, a new risk status quasi-extant for this category of cattle breeds is suggested. In addition, based on the findings of this study, the concept of breed needs to be questioned as relates to it being a good measure of genetic diversity. Further investigations of the situation of cattle breeds (and other livestock species) in more countries/continents using similar categories are deemed necessary.

This work is part of a long-term selection program carried out (i) to assess the performance of three indigenous chicken genotypes under intensive management and (ii) to evaluate the response to selection of three indigenous chicken genotypes. A total of 5945 day-old chicks representing three types of indigenous chicken genotypes namely Naked Neck (NN), Hilly (H) and Nondescript Deshi (ND) were hatched for foundation generation (G 0), first generation (G 1), second generation (G 2) and third generation (G 3) for this study. In every generation, selection was practiced at 40-week of age on the basis of an index comprising the parameters of age at first egg (AFE), body weight (BW), egg production (EP) and egg weight (EW). The average body weights of ND, H and NN were 1074±4.0, 1279.6±5.5 and 1041.0±5.7 g, respectively at the age of 16 weeks. The mean daily weight gain of indigenous chicken at 0-8, 0-12, 0-16 week and 0-maturity were 7.8±0.02, 9.4±0.02, 9.8±0.02 and 8.2±0.03 g, respectively. The lowest hatchability was found in NN genotype (77.5%). The average egg production of ND, H and NN were 83.9±1.1, 76.2±1.4 and 74.0±1.5, respectively. Among the three indigenous chicken types, ND had significantly higher (p<0.001) average number of eggs for a given period than H and NN genotypes. In terms of body weight, H genotype was superior. Based on the performance of the four generations, the study revealed that H genotype to be a good base population to be developed as a meet producing strain whereas nondescript Deshi chicken could be improved for.

The present study was conducted to know the breeding and performance profile of Black Bengal goat in 4 upazila (Mymensingh Sadar, Fulbaria, Trishal and Muktagacha) of Mymensingh district. The data were collected using a pre-tested questionnaire from 100 goat rearers. The questionnaire included primary information about goat owners, total number of goats, color pattern, birth information, fate of male kids, weight of kids, breeding system and source of breeding males, breeding cost, litter size, kid mortality, some management parameters on goat and goat rearing system under rural condition. On an average, goat per family at Mymensingh district was found to be 3.56 ±1.77 where the percentage of does and bucks were 90.61% and 9.39% respectively. Most of the farmers were found not to keep male kid for bad odor and difficult management and hence castrate them. Almost all farmers depend on natural mating to serve their does by passing a significant distance. The average service charge was found BDT 70.90±1.77, which differs significantly (P< 0.05) among four upazilas. No significant difference was found in performance of goats among four upazilas. The average body weight at 3 and 6 months of age of female goats were 4.67 ± 0.15 and 7.12±0.14 kg respectively. The average litter size was found 1.76±0.75 and the average kid mortality rate was 12.88% in Mymensingh district. From this study, it became evident that acute shortage of Black Bengal breeding bucks exists in the rural areas which may represent the overall situation of the country.Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2016. 45 (2): 46-51

The experiment was conducted under the Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh from June, 2001 to December, 2005 in two different locations (Central Cattle Breeding and Dairy Farm and Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute in Savar, Dhaka) to observe ovarian response to different doses of FSH in three different genotypes of cattle- indigenous Local, Pabna cattle and Friesian×Local cross. Five different dose levels used were 200, 240, 280, 320 and 360 mg. Ovarian response as corpus luteum (CL), recovered embryo (RE) and of transferable embryos (TE) count in Local were significant for 320, 280 and 280 mg respectively. In Pabna cattle CL, RE and TE count were found significant for 360, 320 and 320 mg respectively. In Friesian×Local cross CL, RE and TE count were found significant for 360, 320 and 320 mg respectively. The excellent quality embryos showed significantly the highest yield (1.80±0.20) in the 240 and 280 mg FSH levels in Local genotype. In Pabna cattle, the highest yield (2.00±0.32) was found at FSH level 320 mg. In Friesian×Local, the highest yield (2.20±0.20) was found at FSH level 280 mg.

The Department of Livestock Services has been implementing “Breed Up-gradation Through Progeny Test" Project since 2003, for selecting dairy breeding bulls based on their progeny performance. This paper describes the procedures followed for setting up field based progeny testing scheme involving private farmers and reports the data of progeny testing in Bangladesh from 2007 to 2013. Until now more than 5000 farmers, having at least one Friesian crossbred cow, were registered under this program in 22 districts of the country. Five Friesian crossbred candidate bulls were evaluated on their estimated breeding values for 100-day milk yields of 199 first calving daughters during 2007 to 2013. Out of five bulls, two bulls were found promising due to their positive breeding values compared to the others. By 2015, 100 day lactation milk yield data from more than 450 daughters of 6 candidate bulls (used in 2009) of the second batch are expected to be available for evaluation, and about 2452 daughters (heifers) of different ages produced out of 29 candidate bulls are available under field recording in different geographical areas of the country. So, proven dairy bull production through field-based progeny testing program in Bangladesh is underway.Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2015. 44(2): 106-112