AbSTRACT bOOk - OAPGRC book (15-3-2016...My presentation will focus on the major break-throughs of next-generation sequencing (NGS). I will provide several examples of breakthroughs

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REGIONAL CONFERENCE FOR ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES CONSERVATION

Towards Sustainable Utilization

February 23-24, 2016MUSCAT– OMAN

AbSTRACT bOOk

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Citation: Oman Animal and Plant Genetic Resources Center (OAPGRC). 2016. Regional Conference for Animal Genetic Resources Conservation. Towards Sustainable Utilization. February 23-24, 2016. Muscat– Sultanate of Oman. Abstract book. OAPGRC (oapgrc.gov.om), The Research Council, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.

In response to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s order to review Oman’s opportunities to protect its globally significant genetic resources, the Oman Animal and Plant Genetic Resources Center (OAPGRC) was established by TRC in 2012. With a mission is to promote the recognition, sustainable utilization and value of the genetic diversity inherent in Oman’s animals, plants and microorganisms as a natural heritage resource, the Center has been created specifically to advance the sustainable use of animal and plant genetic resources through education, research and innovation. This important work is intended to serve and benefit not only the people of Oman but the wider international community and the generations yet to come as OAPGRC develops as a collaborative regional center for all animal and plant genetic resources activities, promoting the sustainable use of knowledge across economic sectors and social segments and creating value from world-class research and practical innovation.

About OAPGRC

Mission

To promote recognition, sustainable exploitation and valuation of genetic diversity inherent in Oman’s animals, plants and microorganisms

Vision

Develop as a collaborative hub for all animal and plant genetic resources activities.

Promote the sustainable use of knowledge across economic sectors and social segments.

Create value from world-class research and practical innovation.

Open to the world of international science and have a specific concern for building a recognized local capacity in the field of genetic resources. als, plants and microorganisms as a natural heritage resource.

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About the Conference 6

Organizing & Scientific Committees 7

Conference Program 8-9

Themes

• Theme 1

Genetics and Genomics11

• Theme 2

Reproduction & Diseases

28

• Theme 3

Nutrition & Performance37

• Theme 4

Conservation & Genetic Improvement

49

Table of Contents

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About the conference

The conference is a two days event in the form of oral presentations and poster sessions.

VenueAl-Fahm Hall, Sultan Qaboos University,

Muscat - Oman

Language English

Organizing Committee

Mr. Abdullah Ali Al-Rawahi OAPGRC Chair

Prof. Osman Mahgoub Gaafa SQU Co-Chair

Eng. Abdullah Hilal Al-belushi OAPGRC Member

Ms. Duaa Yousif Al-Moqbali OAPGRC Member

Mr. Ibrahim khalfan Al-Raqadi OAPGRC Member

Mr. Saleh Mubarak Al-Adawi OAPGRC Member

Ms. Zahra Al-Abri OAPGRC Designer

Mr. khaled Al-busaidi OAPGRC Coordinator

Scientific Committee

Dr. Nadiya Abubakar Al-Saady OAPGRC Chair

Prof. Osman Mahgoub Gaafar SQU Co-Chair

Dr. Albano beja-Pereira University of Porto, Portugal Member

Dr. badar Ali Al- Qamashoui MAF Member

Dr. Hamid Ghaloub Al-khafaji OAPGRC Member

Dr. Hamza babiker SQU, CMH Member

Dr. Ihab Shaat MAF Member

Dr. Mohammed Ali Al-Abri SQU Member

Dr. Senan baqir SQU Member

Ms. Asila Sulaiman Al-Naabi OAPGRC Coordinator

Ms. Moza Al-kharusi OAPGRC Coordinator

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• Theme 1

Genetics and Genomics

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The last decade has been prolific in the advancing of new sequencing and computational tools and technolo-gies. Over the past few years the number of genomes from livestock species has been growing at a fast pace and presently thousands of genomes are publicly available. My presentation will focus on the major break-throughs of next-generation sequencing (NGS). I will provide several examples of breakthroughs in this tech-nological advances and provide an insight into the uses of several technologies in livestock conservation and breeding, food security and animal health. In animal breeding the use of genomic information with phenotypic information permits to uncover the molecular basis of adaptation that characterize local livestock breeds from around the globe. This allows us to design and quickly implement more accurate conservation and breeding programs. but, genomic technologies can also help with other issues related to food security and health. The efficiency of NGS to work with low quantities of DNA, permits to detect and quantify the presence of a vast array of pathogens that populate food production and markets. This is causing a revolution in food security and helping improve the classic food traceability system “farm-to-fork” that has been in used for the past 20 years. Furthermore, detection and genome sequencing of many pathogens has been a large breakthrough in the monitoring of animal health and mitigation of the negative impacts in animal production.

Since their domestication in the Arabian Peninsula, cattle and chicken have played important role in the de-velopment of agriculture and human socioeconomic. However, limited information is available on the genetic diversity and origin of these species in the region. Autosomal and mitochondrial DNA has been widely used to study the genetic diversity and phylogeny of animal populations. Three recent studies have assessed 1) the origin of cattle in Oman using bovine mtDNA, 2) the origin of chicken in the Arabian Peninsula using gallus mtDNA and 3) the genetic diversity, structure and conservation priorities of chicken in Oman using microsat-ellites. In the first study, the analyses of mtDNA from 49 indigenous Omani cattle revealed 33 haplotypes with a total of 49 mutations giving the rise for two major clades; b. Taurus (38.8%) and b. Indicus clades (62.2%). All Dhofari cattle (southern) were dominated by Indian lineages whereas the Near eastern lineages dominat-ed the Northern cattle breed of Oman. In the second study, the analyses of 207 mtDNA sequences of chicken from Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen revealed a total of 27 haplotypes clustering into three of the previously identified phylogenetic mtDNA clades (Liu Clades). The most frequent haplotypes in the Arabian Peninsula clustered within clade E (89%), which is believed to be originated in the Indian subcontinent. A positive (0.145), even though insignificant (P= 0.054), association was observed between geographic and genetic distances in chicken groups sharing clade E around the Indian Ocean rim. In the third study, analyses of 29 microsatellites in 158 indigenous chickens showed a total of 217 alleles with an average number of alleles per locus of 7.48. The expected heterozygosity was 0.62 and the fixation index among populations was 0.034, indicating high diversity and low population differentiation. Dhofar and Musandam populations were the most distant and the highest in priority for conservation to maximum genetic diversity. As a summary, indigenous cattle and chicken are characterized by high diversity. The findings of these studies unveil two major introduction routs (northern terrestrial and eastern maritime) for cattle and one major introduction rout (eastern maritime) for chicken. These studies strengthen the theory of the paramount role of the Arabian Peninsula in the ancient dispersal routs of species.

Biography

Albano beja-Pereira, is senior researcher in population genetics at CIbIO – University of Porto, and works on the impact of domestication process in the genome and the population structure of livestock and their parasites. Cur-rently, he is using population genomics tools to detect signatures of selection and past demographic events that shaped the genome of livestock species.

Keynote Speaker Biography

Dr. badar Ali Alqamashoui has worked at Oman’s Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries since 1996. He is the Head of the Department of Poultry Projects Development. He obtained bSc and MSc degrees from Sultan Qaboos Uni-versity (SQU), Department of Animal & Veterinary Sciences in 1995 and 2006, respectively. He was awarded a PhD from George-August University-Goet-tingen, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences in February 2014. He is attached as a part-time Postdoc at the College of Medicine & Health Sciences, SQU in the project of “Theileria in Oman: molecular epidemiology and disease” funded by the Research Council. His research interests are to use molecular tools to explore genetic potential and evolutionary origin of animal and plant genetic resources in Oman with the aim of establishing conservation programs.Albano Beja-Pereira

Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources – CIBIO/InBIO, University of Porto, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal

Email Address: [email protected]

Badar Alqamashoui

Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Muscat- Oman

E-mail Address: [email protected]

CHARACTERIZATION OF LIVESTOCK BREEDS AND CONSERVATION PLANS: THE USE OF GENOMICS

FOR FOOD TRACEABILITY AND SECURITY

A REVIEW ON USING AUTOSOMAL AND MITOCHANDERIAL DNA TO ASSESS THE GENETIC

DIVERSITY AND ORIGIN OF CATTLE AND CHICKEN IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA

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The aim of this study was to determine mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop region polymorphism among Nigerian indigenous Muscovy ducks from three agroecological zones. blood sample was taken from 90 indige-nous Muscovy ducks; only 11 from south west humid rain forest agroecological zone, five from south rainforest and four from northern guinea savanna zone had their DNA extracted. DNA obtained were amplified by PCR method using primers (5’-GTTGCGGGGTTATTTGGTTA-3’) as forward and (5’-CCATATACGCCAACCGTCTC-3’) as reverse and subsequently sequenced. The results of the analysis show five haplotypes generated from total sample with the south-west population having the highest haplotype diversity (0.90±0.16). Similarly, high ma-ternal genetic differentiation within population (101.39%) but lower between the populations (-1.39%) were obtained with a fixation index (FST) value of -0.01314. Median joining network indicated that the population shared similar maternal inheritance.

The development of cost-effective high-throughput SNP chip technologies in the last decade for major live-stock species represents an outstanding breakthrough that has allowed them to enter the genomic era. De-spite its worldwide relevance, the dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) has tended to be excluded from the live-stock ”genomic revolution” until recently. Indeed, no genome-wide screening tool is today available and no population genomics study has so far been published for this species. To tackle this discrepancy, we will adopt a genome-wide Restriction site Associated DNA (RAD) sequencing approach, a method that combines tradi-tional DNA shearing via endonucleases with the Illumina Next Generation Sequencing technology to simul-taneously genotype tens to hundreds of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers in hun-dreds of individuals. This technology has the major advantage of not requiring substantial prior knowledge of both genome sequence and variability, while achieving per-site and per-individual costs below that of current SNP chip technology. A total of 120 animals from a wide geographic sampling area will be considered. Notably, a double-digest approach will be adopted (ddRADseq) which has been proved to better allow optimization of the number of loci to be sequenced and maximization of the number of sequence reads incorporated in the analysis. About 200,000 genomic regions will be screened for each animal, at a theoretical coverage of 6X. The obtained SNP genotypes will help carry out the first population genomic study in the Camelus dromedarius species and will hopefully open the way to a larger collaborative effort for a more comprehensive characteri-zation of the genetic diversity and reconstruction of the evolutionary history of this fascinating desert animal.

Biography

Dr. Danlami Moses Ogah works at Nasarawa State University in the Faculty of Agriculture Shabu, Lafia Campus, Keffi, Nigeria

Biography

Professor Ciani is a tenured researcher in Animal breeding and Genetics at University of bari, Italy. Research interests: evolutionary, population and conservation genetics/genomics of livestock species, with special emphasis in data mining of genotypes at Short Tandem Repeat and genome-wide Sin-gle Nucleotide Polymorphism loci. Author and co-author of more than 80 sci-entific articles and conference communications, she participated in both the International Sheep Genomic Consortium (ISGC) and the International Camel Consortium for Genetic Improvement and Conservation (ICC-GIC).

Danlami M. Ogah

Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture Nasarawa State University, keffi Shabu-

Lafia campus, Nigeria.


Elena Ciani1

Pamela Burger2 and the International Camel Consortium for Genetic Improvement and Conservation (ICC-GIC)

1 University of Bari, Bari, Italy2 Vetmeduni, Vienna, Austria


GENETIC DIVERSITY OF NIGERIAN INDIGENOUS MUSCOVY DUCK USING MTDNA D-LOOP

SEQUENCESGENETIC STRUCTURE OF CAMELUS DROMEDARIUS

POPULATIONS THROUGH GENOME-WIDE RAD SEQUENCING

Poster Poster

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The kedah kelantan (kk) is a breed of beef cattle that is indigenous to Malaysia. It is highly productive un-der good management and it is a very suitable beef animal for small producers and local butchers. It is well adapted to the local environment, resistant to ticks and internal parasites, and has high fertility. There are 593,299 heads of this breed, representing 85% of the total beef cattle population on the Malaysia Peninsula. In order to improve kk productivity and increase the local beef production, the breed has been crossed with many improved beef breeds such as brahman and Charolais cattle. As a result of these activities, the size of the purebred kk population is fast decreasing, and most of the current commercial beef cattle populations are crossbreds of kk with improved breeds. There is a lack of information on the genetic characteristics of the kk. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the genetic diversity of the kk breed using microsatellite mark-ers. Fifteen microsatellite loci; bM1818, bM1824, bM2113, CSRM60, CSSM66, ETH3, ETH10 ETH152, ETH185, ETH225, HAUT24, HAUT27, HEL1, HEL5 and HEL13 were amplified successfully in 50 KK cattle. A total of 128 alleles were detected. The mean number of alleles was 8.2. The average observed and expected heterozygos-ities were 0.52 and 0.69, respectively. Positive value of inbreeding coefficient (FIS) (0.24) reveals high inbreed-ing in KK cattle. Significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were detected in twelve of the fifteen loci (p<0.05). The results of this study showed moderate genetic variability and presence inbreeding in the kk. However, before any conclusive statements are made about the genetic variability of the kk, it is recommend-ed that at least 30 microsatellite loci and additional kk animals be analysed.

Biography

Dr. Haytham Hago Abdelwahid is Assistant Professor of Genetics & Animal breeding at the University of bahri. Dr. Abdelwahid graduated from the facul-ty of Animal Production University of khartoum in 1998. He obtained his MSc from the same University in 2002. He was awarded a PhD in Animal Genetic and breeding from the University of Putra Malaysia in 2013. He lectured at the Upper Nile University between 2003 and 2011. He joined the University of bahri in 2011.

Haytham A.1,3, Jothi P.2, Reuben S.3 and Halimatun Y.2

1Department of Animal Breeding and Genetic, College of Animal Productions, University of Bahri, Alkaduro –

Khartoum, Sudan2Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia.

3Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia


ANALYSIS OF GENETIC DIVERSITY OF KEDAH KELANTAN CATTLE BREED BY MICROSATELLITE

MARKERSThe full mitochondrial DNA sequences have divided modern cattle to different sub-haplogroups, encompass-ing the main T (taurine-specific) and I (zebu-specific) macro-haplogroups, with some breeds carrying rare Q and R haplogroups. Given the importance of the mitochondria in cell energy production, mtDNA is expected to be a target of natural selection. We report here the comparison of the full mtDNA sequences of indigenous East African Shorthorn Zebu cattle (EASZ) with cattle breeds from Europe, Africa and Asia addressing three questions i) the extent of EASZ mtDNA genetic diversity; ii) the presence of signatures of selection in taurine mtDNA compared to zebu mtDNA; and iii) within African cattle. Our results indicated that the EASZ mtDNA sequences are all of the taurine type and members of T1a, T1b and T1b1 sub-haplogroups. Nineteen taurine-ze-bu non-synonymous variants were detected, but none seem to be associated with a selective advantage for taurine mtDNA. Based on ω ratio analyses, purifying selection is the main selection pressure targeting EASZ mtDNA with less selective constrains at the ATP6 and ATP8 genes. Interestingly, within African cattle, we iden-tified a positive selection signal in the Cox-2 gene in the T1b/T1b1 sub-haplogroups, together the most com-mon sub-haplogroups on the continent. This may indicate a probable advantage for these sub-haplogroups in Africa.

Biography

Hussain graduated from Aberdeen University in 2008 with a First Class hon-ours bSc degree in Genetics. In 2009 he was awarded a Masters degree from Newcastle University in Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells. before start-ing his PhD, he spent a year at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to obtain further lab experience. He completed a PhD in Animal Population Genetics in 2015 at the University of Nottingham. Hussain works at kuwait University as an Assistant Professor focusing on cattle and camel research.

Hussain Bahbahani1, Joram Mwacharo2 and Olivier Hanotte2

1 Kuwait University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biological Sciences, State of Kuwait2 School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK


IDENTIFICATION OF SIGNATURES OF SELECTION AND ASSESSING THE DIVERSITY OF EAST AFRICAN

SHORTHORN ZEBU MITOCHONDRIAL DNA

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The Sultanate of Oman is endowed with a wealth of biodiversity. It has a wide diversity of animal genetic resources (AnGR), which are indigenous. After preparation of the first country report on the state of Oman›s AnGR in 2002, the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries started a breeding strategy for sustainable management, utilization and conservation of AnGR in line with the basic elements and the steps used and developed by the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Oman has taken steps to conserve its AnGR in collab-oration with international organizations and institutes. AnGR in Oman consist of cows, sheep, goats, camels, horses and poultry that are located in varying numbers across the Sultanate. Cows are distributed by 74% in Dhofar and 12% in batinah and 4% in each of Zahira, Dakhliya and Sharqiya governorates. Goats represent about 23% in batinah 19% in Sharqiya, 17% in Dhofar, 15% Zahira, 9% Dakhliya, 8% in Wusta, 7% in Musan-dam and 2% in Muscat governorates. batinah governorate has large numbers of sheep (31%) and about 22% in Sharqiya, 20% in Zahira, 13% in Dakhliya, 5% in Muscat, 4% in Wusta, 3% in Musandam and 2% in Dhofar governorates. The majority of camels (71%) are located in Dhofar governorate and the rest distributed by 9% in Sharqiya, 7% in Wusta, 6% in Zahira, 4% in batinah and 3% in Dakhliya governorates. Local poultry are low in number, raised only at research stations and in some villages. There are modest numbers of horses in the Royal Cavalry and the rest are located at the Royal Court Affairs. There are various activities in the Sultanate, which are directly or indirectly related to the conservation and utilization of AnGR. The Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries (MAF) has carried out considerable work in the conservation of farm animal genetic resources such as cattle, sheep, goats and poultry in-situ and ex-situ in collaboration with Sultan Qaboos University, Ministry of Environment & Climatic Affairs, and Diwan of the Royal Court. Oman has collaborated with the FAO and ICARDA and AOAD. MAF has very good herds and flocks from different local species distributed in four-re-search stations as in-situ conservation. It also has a gene bank for ex-situ cryopreservation for semen, embryos and ova. There are five local goat breeds, two local sheep and two local cow breeds - all are well characterized at both phenotypic and molecular level. It is worth mentioning that Oman has taken significant steps to realize food security and sustainable development through enhancing better utilization of animal and plant genetic resources to produce domestic livestock and agriculture production. This approach has helped increase the self-sufficiency rate in some products like meet, milk and table eggs.

Biography

Ihab Mostafa Mohamed Shaat, PhD, Animal breeding. Chief Researcher in Animal breeding & Genetics, Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agri-culture (Egypt). Post-doctoral Research at MTT Animal breeding Group (Fin-land). At present, Animal breeding Expert, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries (Oman)

Ihab Shaat, Rashid Al-Habsi

Livestock Research Center, Directorate General for Agricultural and Livestock Research, Ministry of Agricul-ture & Fisheries, Oman


THE CURRENT STATUS OF ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES IN OMAN

Following the development of cost-effective high-throughput SNP genotyping technologies, such as SNP bead arrays and genome-wide RAD sequencing, an increasing number of studies have been carried out in different livestock species. In sheep, this has been led by the International Sheep Genomic Consortium (www.sheep-hapmap.org) through the HapMap breed diversity experiment (kijas et al., 2012), whose major outputs have been (i) the validation of the Ovine SNP50beadChip developed in collaboration with the Illumina commercial company, (ii) the analysis of within-breeds genetic diversity, among-breeds relationship and genetic structure, levels of linkage disequilibrium and estimation of past effective population sizes, and (iii) detection of selection signatures, and (iv) optimization of SNP parentage panels. The study has been carried out on a representative dataset of worldwide sheep breeds. However, several relevant geographical diversity hotspots were underrep-resented or missing. A follow-up initiative was launched to combine efforts from different research institutions around the world and an exhaustive meta-analysis of the worldwide sheep genetic diversity will be performed on the available SNP genotypes. An overview of the current status and future perspectives of the project is provided.

Johannes A. Lenstra1, Elena Ciani2, Elisa Pieragostini2 and the International Sheep Genomic Consortium

1 Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands2 University of Bari, Bari, Italy


TOWARD A COMPREHENSIVE GENOME-WIDE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SHEEP VARIABILITY AT

THE WORLD-WIDE SCALE

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The aim of the present study was to evaluate the genetic diversity and structure of indigenous cattle popu-lations in Oman using microsatellite markers. Forty-one blood samples were collected from two local Omani cattle breeds (Northern and Dhofari) and two imported cattle breeds (Ethiopian and Pakistani). In addition, data generated from European breeds comprising Friesian, Jersey and Charolais were included in the study. The genomic DNA was extracted using QIAamp blood Midi kit. Six microsatellite markers (recommended by the ISAG/FAO) were amplified by PCR using specific protocols. Fragment analysis was carried out on ABI Prism genetic analyzer 3130. Microsatellite fragment sizing was done using the Gene Mapper. The level of gene di-versity was high as indicated by the mean observed and expected heterozygosity values across all loci for all populations, which were 0.589 ±0.053 and 0.719 ±0.048, respectively. Mean value of polymorphic information content was 0.815. There was a significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium at the six microsatellite loci for all populations. Level of inbreeding was moderate (Fis = 0.098). The coefficient of gene differentia-tion (Fst) and inbreeding for all population (Fit) were 0.194 and 0.271, respectively. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) of the seven populations exposed higher genetic diversity within populations compared to diversity among them. Principle Coordinate Analyses and UPGMA cluster showed that Northern, Dhofari, Ethiopian and Pakistani breeds are clearly clustering further away from the three European breeds (Charolais, Friesian and Jersey). The two analyses also revealed that Northern and Dhofari breeds are distinguished breeds and show significant genetic diversity among them.

Biography

kareema Al Sinani, MSc Animal and Veterinary Science Animal Science Researcher, Cattle Research Department, Rumis Livestock Research Center, Directorate General for Agriculture & Livestock Research, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Sultanate of Oman

Kareema R. Alsinani*, Osman M.G2, Isam T.K2, Waleed S. Almarzooqi2 and Badar A. Alqamashoui 3

1 Livestock Research Center, Directorate of Agriculture and Livestock Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Oman,

2 Sultan Qaboos University, Oman 3 Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Oman


GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF OMANI CATTLE USING MICROSATELLITE DNA MARKERS

The Streptococcus bovis group (SbG) includes several species and subspecies of microorganism that are as-sociated with infection and colorectal cancer and adenoma in human and animals. The objective of this study was to design new primer of S. bovis biotype. Specific primer was designed based on the conserved regions of the target genes used in the PCR assays. The size of PCR product was designed to obtain a staircase like pat-tern when separated by agarose gel electrophosis. The conserved regions of these alignments were visualized using GeneDoc software, a specific primer pair from conserved region was designed to amplify the 16S rRNA. The specific primer was designed based on primer design guidelines where the primer length was between 18 to 30 bp, the annealing temperature as 2º C lower than the estimated melting temperature, the annealing tem-perature of each designed primer within the 55 to 75ºC range, primer sequences selected was between 35% and 65% of G-C. The designed primer was analysed using BLAST, GenBank for specificity. The results showed that the designed PCR assay was 100% specific for their target gene with the correct PCR product size (398 bp). Streptococcus equinus strain 3141 16S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence 721 bp linear DNA. Strep-tococcus bovis rRNA <1. >721/product=”16S ribosomal RNA” “aagactttag tacatgcaag tagaacgctg cttgctaaag ttggaagagt tgcgaacggg”. In conclusion, the specific prime was designed based on the conserved regions of the target genes used in the PCR assays product size (398 bp).

Biography

Professor Dr. karim A. Mohamed Al-Jashaami. DV&S (1986), MSc: Histopa-thology, 1993 baghdad University and PhD: Pathology 2003, University Putra Malaysia. Head of Pathology Unit/ Faculty of Medicine / SEGi University. Re-search interests: cancer and stem cells.

Karim Al-Jashamy1 and Asseel M.M. Habh2

1 Faculty of Medicine, SEGi University, Kota Damansara, Selangor- Malaysia2 University of Al-Mustansiriah/ College of Sciences/ Department of Biology, Iraq

E-mail Address: [email protected] [email protected]

DESIGN A NEW PRIMER FOR MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF S. BOVIS BIOTYPE

Poster

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A total number of nine microsatellite DNA markers, namely: bM1329; bMS483; bM143; AFR227; bMS2460; CSSM38; CSSM70; ETH02 and bM1706 were tested to assess the molecular genetic variability among and within six governorate-located groups of Egyptian buffalo. The total number of animals sampled was 312, col-lected from six governorates; Behera, Menoufia, Kaliobia, Giza, Sharkia and Alexandria. All studied microsatel-lites showed allelic polymorphism. Across all loci, 139 alleles were observed. The average number of observed alleles per polymorphic locus was 15.444±3.206, ranging from 10 (BMS2460) to 20 (BM1706). The effective number of alleles per locus showed lower values varying between 8.988 and 17.176 for bMS2460 and bM1706, respectively, with a mean of 13.233 ± 2.630. The total observed number of alleles per governorate group varied between 110 (Alexandria) and 116 (kaliobia and Giza) with an overall mean of 113.3 alleles per governorate group.The mean observed number of alleles per locus per group varied between 12.22 (Alexandria) and 12.89 (kalio-bia and Giza) while the mean effective number of alleles per locus per group varied between 10.22 ± 2.08 (Al-exandria) and 10.95± 2.49 (kaliobia). The observed heterozygosity (Ho) ranged from 0.792 (CSSM38) to 0.930 (bM143), while the expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.890 (bMS2460) to 0.943 (bM1706). The over-all means of Ho and He values were 0.890 ± 0.048 and 0.923 ± 0.017, respectively. Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.878 (bMS2460) to 0.939 (bM1706) with a mean of 0.915. Across all loci, the mean of fixation index was 0.024±0.017. These results indicated the presence of a wide genetic variation within the Egyptian buffalo at the molecular level, giving an opportunity to exploit marker-assisted selection (MAS) in improving economic traits of Egyptian buffalo.

Biography

Samy Abou-bakr Mahmood Mohamed is Professor of Animal breeding, Fac-ulty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Production, Cairo University.

Mohamed Attia1, Samy Abou-Bakr1, Ali A. Nigm1, Sherif Attalla1, and Naglaa Abdallah2

1 Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt 2 Genetics Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt


MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF GENETIC VARIABILITY IN EGYPTIAN BUFFALO USING MICROSATELLITE DNA

MARKERS

Identifying QTLs affecting height variation is important to understand the genetic architecture and morpho-logic changes undergone during domestication. Using the Illumina 54k SNP chip, we genotyped 48 horses from 16 breeds that represented extremes in body size. We performed a GWAS for withers height in the 48 ani-mals where we successfully accounted for the population structure in our data with a mixed model approach in EMMA using an additive, recessive and dominant model of inheritance. Population stratification in this diverse dataset was extreme, producing a genome wide inflation factor of 2.43. Using EMMA, we were able to reduce the inflation factor to 1.19. Our dominant model GWAS detected two novel significant QTLs at chromosomes 1 and 19. The most significant hit was on chromosome 1 near the ANKRD1 gene. ANKRD1 encodes the Ankyrin Repeat Domain-Containing Protein 1, a protein that is involved in the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β pathway and is up-regulated in response to atrophy induced bone loss. The marker SNP explained 1.875 inches of withers height (corresponding to 6 % of total height in these animals) variation when genotyped in a new sample set of 36 unrelated ponies. We intend to further verify our results by increasing the sample size in this single-breed population. Investigation of the functional role that this gene plays in determining withers height in horses and detection of the putative causative mutation is ongoing.

Biography

Dr. Mohammed Al Abri is Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal & Veterinary Sciences at Sultan Qaboos University. He received his bSc in An-imal Science from Sultan Qaboos University, his MSc in Cattle Quantitative Genetics from McGill University and his PhD in Horse Genomics from Cornell University. In addition to teaching, Dr. Al-Abri conducts research in animal genetics and genomics. His PhD research was in developing tools and meth-ods for equine genomics. His future research orientation is in genomics and genetic characterizing Omani livestock.

Mohammed A. Al Abri1, Christian Posbergh2, Gabriel E. Hoffman3, John Eberth5, Nate Sutter4 and Samantha Brooks5

1 Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, College of Agriculture and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

2 Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA3 Mount Sinai Hospital, Icahn Medical Institute, USA

4 Department of Biology, La Sierra University, California, USA5 University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

6 Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Florida, USA


A DOMINANT MODEL GENOME WIDE ASSOCIATION OF SIZE VARIATION IN HORSES SHOWS A CANDIDATE LOCUS IMPACTING SIZE

VARIATION IN HORSES

PosterPoster

AGRC 24 AGRC 25

In Oman, the greatest threat to domestic goat diversity is the introduction and uncontrolled crossing with ani-mals from other regions, leading to crossbreeding and even replacement of local breeds which are considered more productive. Unfortunately, this uncontrolled crossing started and increased in recent years and there-fore necessitates the collection of reliable data form local breeds/population genetic sources of Omani goat. Microsatellites analysis was carried out on goats of local breeds from six different regions of Oman. A total of 202 samples from five native Omani breed (Batina, Musandam, Dhofari, Al Jabal Al Akhdar and Sharqiah) and two commercial goats (Iranian and Somali goat breed) were analyzed. blood sample were collected and the genomic DNA for these animals was extracted. PCR amplified with 10 microsatellite markers. Microsatellite toolkit and GenALEx were used to estimate total number of alleles, allele frequencies, and average number of alleles per locus and to plot PCoA. A high degree of genetic diversity was observed among Omani goats. The mean number of alleles of Omani breeds was 9.02 with a range between 7.7 (batina and Sharqiah goat) and 11.6 (Musandam goat) whereas the mean number found in Iranian and Somali breeds were lower than Omani goat breeds 8 and 6.6 respectively. Genetic distance was least (0.130) between Sharqiah and Jabal Akhdar and highest between Jabal Akhdar and Somali breeds (0.478). The Omani goat population was found to have a high level of genetic diversity. The conservation strategies of these local breed should be considered in the near future. These results can be used to establish national conservation and breed improvement strategies for economic traits.

Biography

Nasser Al-Araimi is Animal Specialist at Oman’s Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries Wealth. He holds a bachelor degree and Master degree in Animal Science from the University of Sultan Qaboos. Currently, he is doing a PhD in biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution at the University of Porto, Portugal. Nas-ser Al-Araimi is interested in the use of genomics to study the demography, evolution, adaptation and conservation of genetic resources of domesticated species - horse, camel, donkey, cattle, buffalo, goat and sheep - in Arab coun-tries.

Nasser Alaraimi1,2, Osman Mahgoub3, Hamza A. Babiker4, Mohammed Alkindi4, Alia Alansari5, Ali Allawati6, Vânia Costa1 and Albano Beja-Pereira1

1 Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO), University of Porto, Vairão- Portugal.2 Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Muscat- Oman.

3 College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.4 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.

5 Collage of Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.6 The Oman Animal and Plant Genetic Resources Center, Oman.


GENETIC DIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION OF LOCAL OMANI GOAT BREEDS

The increasing amount of data produced after the “omic” revolution prompted the development of a myriad of public repositories. Among them, databases of 2D PAGE data are available (http://world-2dpage.expasy.org/) for the human and animal model species. As what concerns livestock, they are largely under-represented and data are publicly available only for the bovine species, although an increasing number of studies have been carried out in the last few years for other major farm species. The available 2D data generally originate from normal or aberrant tissues/cells. Although serum is a rich source of biochemical products possibly acting as markers of the physiological or clinical status of a subject, the use of serum in 2D analyses has been generally hindered by the high abundance of albumin which can interfere with the resolution and sensitivity of the tech-nique. Different depletion techniques have been so far developed that allow an effective removal of albumin from sera. Based on the above, the aim of the work was (i) to develop a database of 2D serum protein profiles in small ruminants and (ii) to compare within - and among - breeds ranges of variability. A total of 120 samples from three sheep breeds (Sarda, N = 39; Comisana, N = 41; Valle del Belice, N = 40), and 40 samples from two goat breeds (Garganica, N = 22; Siriana, N = 18) have been considered. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis images have been collected and statistical analysis of data is currently ongoing. The obtained preliminary re-sults provides a good starting point toward a more comprehensive description of 2D serum protein profiles in small ruminants under physiological conditions, and a valuable source of information for future studies focus-ing on specific clinical or management conditions and/or breed-specific features.

Biography

Elisa Pieragostini is Associate Professor of Animal breeding & Genetics at the University of bari, Italy. Her research interests are: (i) adaptive evolutionary traits (hematological features and gene arrangements at the hemoglobin loci; resilience to tick-borne diseases; milk protein polymorphisms); (ii) con-servation genetics of endangered livestock breeds (phenotypic, genetic and demographic characterization; genetic management of small populations); (iii) valorization of local livestock resources from a multi-functional perspec-tive. She is the author and co-author of more than 180 scientific articles and conference communications, she is actively involved in academic and scien-tific communities.

Pasqua Loizzo, Stefania Weigel, Angela Cassone, Benedetta Amato, Elena Ciani, Elisa Pieragostini

University of Bari, Bari, Italy


2D SERUM PROTEIN PROFILES IN ITALIAN LOCAL SMALL RUMINANT BREEDS

PosterPoster

AGRC 26 AGRC 27

This study aimed to 1) genotype some camel types and subtypes in Sudan and that found in Qatar and to de-termine the genetic distances between them comparatively with one type from Somalia and another one from Chad, and 2) to study the relationship between the phenotypic characteristic and the genetic makeup. Twen-ty Five microsatellites were used to genotype camel breeds/types from Sudan (Naylawi, Shanapla, Lahawi, Kinani, Rashaydi, Bani-Aamir, Annafi, Bishari Shallagyai and Bishari Arririt), from Qatar (Ommani HJ, Ommani kH, Majaheem, Pakistani Sindi, Pakistani Punjabi and Pakistani), from Somalia (Aarhou) and from Chad (Spot-ted). The highest number of alleles was observed in Locus CVRL 01 (23) whereas the lowest was in YWLL59 (2). The Observed Heterozygosities ranged between 0.950 and 0.049 for Loci VOLP08 and YWLL09, respectively, while the Expected Heterozygosities ranged between 0.915 and 0.362 for Loci VOLP67 and YWLL58, respec-tively (Mean= 0.7378). The average of the Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) was 0.7002 ranging between 0.907 (VOLP67) and 0.345 (YWLL58). The Genetic Distance ranged between 0.545 – 0.098 for Shallagyai (bis-hari subtype) – Pakistani Sindi subtype and between Annafi – Rashaydi, respectively. The Genetic Distance between Spotted and all types ranged between 0.223 with Arririt (bishari subtype) and 0.463 with Punjabi (Pakistani subtype) that found in Qatar, while all types with Aarhou ranged between 0.215 for Arririt and 0.469 with Punjabi (Pakistani subtype). The Dondrogram shows that there is an association between the genotypic characteristics and the geographical distributions and also between the genotypic and the phenotypic char-acteristic. Individual assignment analyses showed that 46.62% of the samples were correctly assigned with 46.87% quality index. It is concluded that the microsatellite technique used in this study was quite efficient in camel breeds/types identification, diversity and structure assessments, and in individual assignment tests.

Biography

Dr. Wathig Hashim is Assistant Researcher Professor, Head of Molecular bi-ology Unit, Camel Production & breeding Department, Tumbool Camel Re-search Centre, Animal Resources Research Corporation. He holds MSc and PhD in Camel Molecular Genetics. PhD was conducted in India as a joint re-search work between Qatar and India to Genotype some Camel types and sub-types from Sudan, India, Qatar, Somalia and Chad.

W. M. Hashim1, Salah Eldin S.Ahmed2, A.Aziz Makkawi2, Galal M. Yousif3, S.C. Mehta4

1 Department of Camel Production and Breeding, Tumbool Camel Research Centre (TCRC), Animal Resources Research Corporation, Khartoum, Sudan.

2 Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agricultural Studies, Sudan University of Science and Technol-ogy

3 Tropical Medicine Research Institute.-The National Center for Research, Sudan 4 Department of Animal Genetics & Breeding, National Research Centre on Camel (NRCC), Bikaner, Rajast-

han, India.


TWENTY FIVE POLYMORPHIC MICROSATELLITE LOCI USED TO GENOTYPE SOME CAMEL TYPES

& SUBTYPES FROM SUDAN, QATAR, CHAD AND SOMALIA

Camels still play an important role in the desert regions of the old world but their genetic diversity and distri-bution patterns are yet far from being fully understood and consequently its conservation is imperative. To mitigate this lack of knowledge, we have investigated mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genetic diversity of seven Ethiopian camel populations (Amibara, Mille, Shinille, Jijiga, Gelleb, Hoor and Liben) from five different camel populations in the Arabian Peninsula (Oman and Yemen), Somalia, Sudan and Egypt. besides, Saudi Arabia and Iran DNA sequences were retrieved from Gen-bank. Genetic relationships and other diversity parameters in these populations were inferred from sequencing analysis of a 559bp fragment ofmtDNA D-loop. The 63 sequences were distilled in 14 unique haplotypes characterized by 14 polymorphic sites. Diversity values were similar/different among all populations, where Liben (0.33±0.13) was the least diverse and Oman and Ethiopian camel populations (Shinille,Hoor and Amibara) were the more diverse (1± 0.11).Network analysis produced moderate star-like patterns, which is suggestive of past population demographic and spatial expansions. We found that most of the Ethiopian camel population haplotypes were shared by all populations, except the Oman camel population which only shared the most common haplotype. The founder haplotype (C2) the larg-est frequency of 34 samples and haplotype (C4) the second with a frequency of nine samples were largely com-posed of camels from the Horn of Africa. The presence of the highest haplotype diversity in Ethiopia and Oman may indicate that origin of camel domestication was undertaken in two different sites/ places.

Biography

Tadesse Yosef Mengesha holds a bSc and MSc in Animal Science & Animal Genetics & breeding from Haramaya University, Ethiopia. He is currently a PhD student (Animal Genetics & breeding) at Haramaya University. His PhD research proposal is entitled: “Phenotypic, genetic diversity and breeding practices of Ethiopian camel populations”

Yosef T.1*, Monteiro R.2, AlaraimiN.2, CostaV.2, Zelalem G.M.3, Mengistu U.1, Sisay T.7, Gebremeskel M.7,Kefelegn K.4, Mohammed Y.K.1, Solomon A.5, Tadelle D.6 and Beja-Pereira A.2

1 School of Animal and Range Sciences, Haramaya University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia2 Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO - InBIO), University of Porto, Campus Agrario

de vairao, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, Vairao, Portugal3 Department of Biology, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia

4 Department for animal husbandry in the tropics and subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Germany 5 Institute of Biodiversity Conservation (IBC), Addis Ababa- Ethiopia

6 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia7 Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia


MATRILINEAL GENETIC DIVERSITIES AND RELA-TIONSHIP OF ETHIOPIAN AND OTHER REGIONS

CamEl populationS (CamEl dromEdary)

PosterPoster

AGRC 28 AGRC 29

• Theme 2Reproduction & Diseases

Many biotechnologies are currently used in livestock breeding with the aim of improving reproductive effi-ciency and increasing the rate of genetic progress in production animals. Semen cryopreservation is the most widely used cryobiotechnology, although vitrification techniques now allow embryos and oocytes to be banked in ever-increasing numbers. Cryopreservation of other types of germplasm (reproductive tissue in general) is also possible, although the techniques are still in the early stages of development for use in livestock species. Genetic biodiversity allows animals to adapt to different environments. Selecting only high-producing geno-types may be counter-productive if fertility is impaired. Conservation of animal genetic resources is essential to provide the genetic biodiversity required to allow animals to adapt to future changes in the environment. Cur-rently approximately 20% of livestock breeds are at risk of extinction and data are lacking for a further 36% of breeds. Cryobanking of germplasm represents a practical method of maintaining genetic diversity, to provide a basis for selecting “desirable” genotypes in the future. The purpose of this review is to discuss the advantag-es and disadvantages of various reproductive biotechnologies in terms of their usefulness in conservation of animal genetic resources. The focus will be on sperm cryopreservation, since this is the most widely used re-productive biotechnology, although other reproductive biotechnologies will also be mentioned. In some cases, the methodology for cryopreservingembryos and oocytes has been developed but non-.invasive methods of transferring the material to recipient animals are lacking. Further research is needed to develop non-invasive transfer methods for these livestock species.

Biography

Jane Morrell is a british veterinary surgeon and researcher in andrology and reproductive biotechnology. She is currently Professor in Reproductive bio-technologies at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Her research interests are improving sperm quality for artificial insemination, gamete in-teraction, cryopreservation and conservation breeding.

Keynote Speaker

Jane M. Morrell

Division of Reproduction, Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Box 7054, SE- 75007 Uppsala, Sweden.


MODERN TECHNIQUES OF REPRODUCTION AND THEIR USE IN CONSERVATION OF ANIMAL GENETIC

RESOURCES: GERMPLASM BANKS AND THEIR SERVICE TO THE FARMING COMMUNITIES

AGRC 30 AGRC 31

The experiment was conducted to investigate the ovarian response and embryo quality using different doses of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH-P) in superovulation in North Omani Cattle (NOC) and determine the suitable dose. Total of 18 donor cows were divided into three experimental groups G1, G2 and G3 (6 cows / G) received (20, 25 and 30 mg FSH respectively for superovulation. Ovarian response as corpus luteum (CL), un-ovulated follicles (UOF), unfertilized ova (UFO), recovered embryo (RE) and transferable embryos (TE) were recorded. Embryos were non-surgically flushed seven days after the first of AI and classified according to de-velopmental stage and quality. Results showed that superovulation in (G3) increased significantly (P<0.05) av-erage number of CLs and average number of (RE) (6.83 and 5.33/flush respectively) compared with the cows treated in (G1) (3.17 and 2.00/flush respectively) and (G2) (4.67 and 3.00/flush respectively). While superovu-lation in (G2) increased significantly (P<0.05) the average number of (TE) (excellent and good) embryos, de-creased average number of (UOF) and average number of (UFO) (2.84, 3.33 and 0.67/flush) compared with (G3) ( 1.83, 5.67 and 1.50/flush ), respectively. While the difference in number of (TE) between (G1) and (G2) were not significant. The results revealed that the superovulation in (G3) produced embryos at early stages of devel-opment (4 cells and 8 cells) this undesirable for embryo transfer program and more number of fair, poor and degenerated embryos compared with (G1) and (G2). In conclusion, administration FSH (G2) for superovulation increased number of transferable embryos, decreased number of unovulated follicles and number of unferti-lized ova. So, the authors suggested that FSH (G2) was suitable for superovulation of Northern Omani cattle to produce good quality embryos for an embryo transfer program.

Biography

Dr. Hussein is Head Researcher, biotechnology Department, Animal Pro-duction Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt. Working in Oman since 2013 as an Expert at the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Directorate General of Ag-riculture & Livestock Research, Livestock Research Center, Reproduction Re-search Department.

Ahmed Hussein, Yasir Alshakaili, Ahmed Alismaily and Hala Alalawi

Reproduction Research Department, Livestock Research Center, Directorate General for Agricultural and Livestock Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Oman


EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT PROTOCOLS OF SUPEROVULATION USING FSH INJECTION ON

EMBRYOS PRODUCTION AND QUALITY IN OMANI LOCAL CATTLE BREED

Livestock represents an important economic and heritage component for Oman. This study represents the first national molecular survey for Theileria parasite among livestock in Oman, conducted in four distinct regions of Oman; Ash-Sharqiyah, Ad-Dhahira, Al-batinah and Dhofar. The study involved a total of 2,020 animals; ovine, caprine and bovine. All animals were apparently healthy and co-graze in the same farms. Presence of Theileria parasites was detected using PCR followed by RFLP and RLb of the 18s rRNA gene. The overall prevalence of Theileria species was 28% (566/2020) among all hosts (ovine, caprine and bovine). However, significant varia-tion in susceptibility was seen between different hosts; cattle (72.3% [323/447]), sheep (36.7% [217/592]) and goats (2.7% [26/981]). Theileria annulata was the only parasite detected in cattle (72.3%), while in sheep, car-ried T. ovis, T. lestoquardi as well as T. annulata. However, a large proportion of infected sheep (19%) carried mixed species infection of T. ovis and T. lestoquardi. Goats showed the lowest infection rate, with T. ovis (1.5% [15/981]) and T. annulata (0.6% [6/981]). To test host susceptibility to natural Theileria spp infection, different breeds of ovine, caprine and bovine were grouped as indigenous, cross and exotic. In ovine and bovine there was a significantly higher prevalence of infection among exotic breeds compared to cross and indigenous,(p = 0.00002) and (p = 0.005), respectively. However, no significant difference in infection rates was seen between caprine breeds.

Biography

Amira Salim khamis Al-Fahdi holds a bSc in Medical Laboratories Sciences and MSc in biochemistry and Molecular biology from Sultan Qaboos Univer-sity.

Amira Al-Fahdi1, Salama Al-Hamidhi1, Mohammed. H. Tageldin2, Patrick Bobade2, Eugene Johnson2, Badar Alqamashoui3, Abdel-Rahim Hussain4, Hamza Babiker1

1Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.2Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos

University, Oman.3Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Muscat, Oman

4Central Veterinary Laboratories, Khartoum, Sudan


HOST AND BREED VARIATION IN SUSCEPTIBILITY OF LIVESTOCK TO NATURAL THEILERIA SP INFECTION

IN OMAN

Poster

AGRC 32 AGRC 33

Anaplasmosis is a tick borne disease (TbD) endemic in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, part of Southern Europe and Western USA. Sheep and goats historically bred in these areas are tolerant to this parasitosis. A previous survey on Mediterranean native and exotic sheep breeds, experimentally infected by Anaplasma ovis, highlighted a breed-related clinical response to the disease. Hence, a protein profiling study was carried out to detect variations in the serum protein patterns between the two breeds comparing the healthy condition vs the acute-phase of the illness. Particularly the experimental design was developed to check the difference, if any, between: i) physio-pathological moments in one subject (intra-subject variability); ii) subjects belonging to the same breed, but exhibiting different host response to the infection (intra-breed variability); iii) subjects characterized by different genetic backgrounds (inter breed variability). As pre-analytical issues are limiting factors in serum proteome investigations, our first problem was how to remove albumin, which is the dominant protein of blood plasma. Thus, the samples (Comisana, N = 8; Suffolk, N=8)) were pre-treated using an affinity column, and then, proteins from the albumin depleted sera, were analysed by 2D SDS-PAGE. A comparison of the protein-spot patterns showed that: i) in physiological conditions each breed seems to be characterized by its own specific spot number; ii) the severe clinical symptoms seem to be related to a low spot number. Thus, the obtained results encourage further research to identify potential biological markers to predict which sub-jects will better cope with the parasite.

Pasqua Loizzo, Antonio Trani, Elena Ciani, Ferruccio Petazzi, Elisa Pieragostini



2D PROTEIN PATTERN IN ITALIAN NATIVE AND EXOTIC SHEEP BREEDS EXPERIMENTALLY INFECTED

BY ANAPLASMA OVIS

Paratuberculosis (PTb) is a chronic enteritis of ruminants. The disease has a global distribution. It causes di-rect (death of the infected animals, low milk production, low meat production) and indirect (increased veteri-nary and related medical costs, low value of breeding stock) economic losses, whose consequences can be of major concern for small local livestock populations. Apulia counts three sheep and two goat local breeds, all of them threatened by severe genetic erosion. Hence, based on the results of an epidemiological survey, we evaluated (i) the biological and management risk factors associated with PTb and (ii) the economic impact of PTB in sheep and goat farms in Apulia (Southern Italy). A field questionnaire was developed to analyse the biological and management risk factors, divided into four topics: flock health status, reproductive manage-ment, nutrition and other farm-related practices. Data from 134 farms and 6,760 heads (3,801 sheep and 2,959 goats) were collected. A first selection of the most significant variables was carried out by univariate analysis. Subsequently, a multivariate conditional logistic model was implemented, in which the animal was the exper-imental unit, the positivity or negativity on the ELISA test was the dependent variable and the biological (sex, age, and species), management and sanitary factors were the independent variables. A further questionnaire was developed to estimate the economic impact of PTb in Apulian sheep and goat farms. A total of 94 farms were considered, for which active and passive balancing (year 2014) were analyzed and the economic loss per head and per farm were estimated. The identification in this study of significant modifiable risk factors will help Apulian farmers and their veterinary practitioners to control the disease. The implications of the preliminary results for this study need to be taken into careful consideration for adopting conservation action plans.

Pasqua Loizzo, Antonio Trani, Elena Ciani, Ferruccio Petazzi, Elisa Pieragostini



RISK FACTORS AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SHEEP PARATUBERCULOSIS IN APULIA (ITALY): POSSIBLE

EFFECTS ON LOCAL LIVESTOCK DIVERSITY

Poster

AGRC 34 AGRC 35

Theileriosis is a widespread protozoan tick-borne disease of ruminants in Oman, causing high morbidity and mortality. However, little is known about the population genetic structure of the main bovine-infecting species present in the country, namely Theileria annulata (T. Annulata). In the present study, we examined cattle in four regions of Oman in order to investigate some basic features of the T. Annulata population and to determine whether parasites in the different regions comprise a single inter-breeding population or if they are geograph-ically sub-structured. A dataset representing T. annulata genotypes isolated from Tunisian and Turkish cattle have been used for comparision. PCR-RFLP of the 18S rRNA gene was used for the identification of Theileria species. Ten genetic markers (micro- and mini-satellites) were developed and used to generate a multi-locus genotype for each isolate in order to provide a dataset for population genetic analysis of T. Annulata in Oman. The heterozygosity was found to be high in all regions (He= 0.83) which could be attributed to large population size, frequent crossing/ recombination in tick vector and migration of new lineages. The majority of T. annulata isolates displayed a number of alleles at one or more loci, indicating that a large proportion of cattle in Oman are infected by multiple genotypes of T. annulata. Pair-wise genetic distance analyses revealed low differentia-tion between parasite sub-populations in Oman (FST= 0.033) thus parasite isolates from the different sites can be considered as a single population. On the other hand, genetic differentiation of Omani isolates was lower with Tunisian (FST = 0.063) than to Turkish isolates (FST = 0.102). Control measures should target the tick vec-tor(s) to cut transmission and frequent movement of animals within Oman as well as imported ones.

Biography

Salama Al-Hamidhi graduated from the College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University. MSc Medical Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine & Health Science. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in the biochemistry De-partment, College of Medicine & Health Science.

Salama Al-Hamidhi1, Mohammed H. Tageldin2, Amira Al-Fahdi1, Eugene Johnson2, Patrick Bobade2, Mohamed Idris3, Badar Alqamashoui5, Jane Kinnaird4, William Weir4, Brian Shiels4, Andy Tait4 and

Hamza Babiker1

1Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khod, Muscat, Oman

2Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khod, Oman.

3Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos Uni-versity, Al-Khod, Oman

4Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom.

5Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Muscat, Oman


EXTENSIVE DIVERSITY OF THEILERIA ANNULATA PARASITE AMONG INFECTED CATTLE IN OMAN

Over the last 30 years, several research groups in the Arabian Peninsula have worked extensively to revive the numbers of endangered animals whether by active captivity breeding programs or with some faint attempts of assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Unfortunately, none of those efforts resulted in the reintroduction of a single animal into the wild habitat nor being donated as a diplomatic present to other nations. It should be noted however that governments in the region have invested heavily in such vital projects. The IUCN has recently listed 40 mammals that are threatened from extinction in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including Oman (IUCN 2013). Numerous factors contribute to the declining trend in population numbers such as urbanization, pouching, habitat loss, environment constrains and most importantly is genetic constrains namely; inbreeding depression, aging, low genetic variance, high genetic drift and loss of genomic biodiver-sity. While it is clinically sound to collect tissues and cell specimens from live animals, regrettably, deceased endangered animals are either abandoned in the wild or undergo clinical autopsy followed by incineration in conservation sites or breeding centers without collecting tissue samples for biobanking. Additionally, with the limited number of founder animal, this practice will make any attempt to establish an outbreeding program that is critically needed for population revival virtually impossible. Taken together, such challenges should be met with the implementation of a state-of-the-art ART program. A prerequisite for such an initiative would commence by biobanking reproductive and vital tissue cells from threatened and endangered animals in the region.

Biography

Dr. Senan Baqir is an academic and research scientist specializing in the field of reproductive biotechnology. He completed his MSc at the Agricultural Uni-versity (Hungary) in Reproductive Physiology focusing on modern techniques such as IVF, cryopreservation and embryology. This was followed by a PhD degree from the Université de Montréal, Canada, specializing in the field of Stem Cells Reprogramming, Reproductive Cloning and Epigenetics. He car-ried out his post doctorate tenure at the University of Guelph, Canada where much of his research focused on stem cell derivation and differentiation. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of biology, Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. His current research interest is focused on biodiversity conservation of Oman endangered species by applying state of the art repro-ductive techniques. He is an active member of several renowned internation-al scientific societies such as the IETS, SSR, ISSRC and ESHRE whereby much of his work has been presented in the last 20 years.

Senan Baqir

Department of Biology, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat-Oman


BIOBANKING OF REPRODUCTIVE CELLS FROM ENDANGERED ANIMALS

Poster

AGRC 36 AGRC 37

• Theme 3Nutrition & Performance

Survival rate improvement of in vitro produced (IVP) embryos has been the ultimate goal of reproductive bio-technologist. Fertilization rate in the bovine species is highly dependent on sperm biological intactness and the normalcy of the oocyte. Experiencing low fertilization rates, sperm reprograming provide an alternate method to improve IVP. The objective of this study was to explore bovine sperm reprograming by using drugs known to alter epigenetic patterns. Following sperm retrieval (n=9) by electro-ejaculation, ejaculates were analyzed for density and motility by computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA) system. To induce sperm reprograming, four epigenetic synchronization drugs were used namely; Trichostatin A (TSA; 0.2nM), Roscovetine (ROSCO; 3µM), 5’AzaCytidine (5-AzaC; 2nM) and Valproic acid (VPA; 2mM). Drug treatments were carried out at 1 and 24 hour post ejaculation at 5 °C. Flow cytometry and fluorescent microscopy were used to evaluate several parameters of sperm cells such as viability, apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential and DNA intactness. Our data shows that TSA and 5-AzaC appears to be a potent drug that improves total and progressive motility compared with non-treated control. Moreover, 5’AzaC and ROSCO treatment were able to increase chromatin intactness. Only ejaculates treated with TSA drug were able to improve mitochondrial membrane potential. In summary, our data suggest that partial sperm reprograming is possible following treatment with drugs known to alter the epigenetic profiles of the chromatin.

Biography

Ms. Dhikra Zaher Al-Fahdi, holds a bSc and is a Research Assistant and Teach-ing Assistant in the biology Department, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University. She is also a team leader of a funded Research Council of Oman FURAP program. Her study is mainly focused on implementing epigenetic science in assisted reproductive technology which is ultimately aimed at as-sisting animal conservation programs.

Senan Baqir1 Dhikra Alfahdi1, Shaima Aburtamani1 and Yasir Alshakaili2

1Biology Department, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman2Reproduction Research Department, Livestock Research Center, Directorate General for Agricultural & Live-

stock Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Oman


SPERM REPROGRAMMING: A PROMISING APPROACH FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF IVP BOVINE

EMBRYOS

AGRC 38

Livestock plays an important role in food security and nutrition as well as economies of countries in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region, supporting rural livelihoods, employment and ensuring access to animal source foods (ASFs). between 1993 and 2013, while global livestock numbers expanded 16 percent, the NENA region numbers expanded by 25 percent, from 77 million livestock units to 96 million. Diverse livestock pro-duction systems exist in the region and rapidly evolving in the face of a sustained growing demand for ASFs. Endowed with rich livestock diversity, the NENA region represents 5% of the total world breeds and the high-est share of the world dromedaries. As early as 10 000 years ago, the Fertile Crescent of the region is one of the centres of first domestication of livestock. Some of the best adapted sheep, goats and chicken breeds have been exported up to more than 20 countries for their genetic merits. The region is home for many breeds well adapted to the arid natural environment and hence for changing climate. Despite their merits, little attention has been given to these breeds and there is no breed-level population statistics for objective evaluation of their degree of endangerment. The risk status of almost 400 adapted local breeds is unknown. Most of the countries of the region have no national policies or legal frameworks to promote sustainable use and conservation of animal genetic resources. In 2007, the international community adopted the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources as a policy framework for the sustainable use and conservation of livestock diversity. In 2012, countries of the Region discussed status of characterisation and value addition to local breeds and their products and priorities for action. In 2014, countries implementation of the Global Plan was monitored. The as-sessment revealed that the countries of the Region are lagging behind in implementing the strategic priorities agreed in the Global Plan. Given the ongoing regional manmade crisis, it is high time for countries to conserve adapted breeds through actively implementing the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources.

Biography

Dr. Nacif Rihani holds a bSc in General Agriculture from the I.A.V. Hassan II, Rabat, Morocco, a MSc in Animal Science from the University of Minnesota, USA; and a Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition from the University of California-Davis, USAHe served on the faculty of the I.A.V. Hassan II, Morocco for more than 20 years in teaching, research and development activities and in FAO since 2003, first in Headquarters, Rome, and in the FAO Sub-Regional Office for GCC States and Yemen based in Abu Dhabi as Livestock Development Officer since 2012His fields of expertise include Animal Production and Health, Animal Feed-ing and Nutrition and Livestock Development, with extensive experience in countries of the Middle East

Keynote Speaker

Markos Tibbo , Nacif Rihani , Mohammed Bengoumi , Badi Besbes , Paul Boettcher3, Roswitha Baumung3, Beate Scherf3 and irene Hoffmann

Correspondence: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO), Cairo, Egypt; Markos. UN-FAO, Abu Dhabi, UAE

UN-FAO, Tunis, Tunisia UN-FAO, Nairobi, Kenya

UN-FAO, Rome, Italy

[email protected]

STATE OF ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES IN THE NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION &

PRIORITIES FOR ACTION

Feed is the foundation of the livestock production, with feed costs generally accounting for up to 70% of the cost of production. Efficient use of available feed resources is a key to efficient animal production and food security. In order to better monitor and guide national and regional livestock sector development, it is essen-tial to develop systematic approaches to accurately assess livestock feed supplies and to obtain better insight into how these feed resources are being utilized. Unfortunately, despite their strategic role in livestock sector development planning, feed assessments and balances are not usually available and where available, they tend to be rather inaccurate. Sub-optimal input data for country-level food/feed input-output analyses and the inability to accurately assess environmental impacts of livestock production are challenges that all initiatives and stakeholders involved in sustainable livestock development are confronted with. There is urgent need to undertake inventories of feedstuffs with chemical compositions and nutritional values; characterize and map feeding systems; monitor prices and trade of feed and feed ingredients; assess and forecast feed demand and supply; and develop feed resource management and feeding strategies; document success stories and create a platform for exchange of information with experts. In addition, there is a need to have a regional program on efficient utilization of locally available feed resources embracing: national feed assessments, characterization of feeding systems, quality control systems for feed analysis, and development of feeding strategies based on locally available feed resources with the aim to decrease the use of imported grain-based concentrate feeds in the region. Areas of focus should be on up-scaling and expanding knowledge and use of salt- and drought-toler-ant plant species as animal feed; crop-livestock integrated systems with a focus on using water-efficient plants and locally adapted animals; restoration of rangelands/grasslands; capacity development in feed assessment in rangelands based on remote sensing and geographic information system; promotion in the use of local-ly-adapted indigenous plant species in rangeland rehabilitation; decrease in the use of cereal seeds in livestock diets by including forages and agro-industrial by-products; and development of early warning systems for feed and water availability, to support pastoralists. Feed inventories, feeding systems, and feed quality should be considered as integral components of an overall strategy or options that integrate technical (genetics, health and nutrition), policy and institutional interventions for using resources more efficiently to produce more food and feed. both policy makers and animal feed and crop scientists have a role to play in making this possible.

Contribution of animal feed resources in conserving adapted animal genetic resources in the Near East and

North Africa

Markos Tibbo , Nacif Rihani and Harinder Makkar

Correspondence: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO), Cairo, Egypt; Markos. UN-FAO, Abu Dhabi, UAE

UN-FAO, Rome, Italy

[email protected]

AGRC 40 AGRC 41

In Algeria, D’man sheep breed is raised mainly in the Southwest oases (Gourara and Touat) especially in small holder flocks and permanent housing. The study was carried out on 354 animals (271 heads in oases family farms and 83 heads in INRAA experimental station) in the region of Adrar. Seven quantitative characters and five qualitative traits were recorded on 259 ewes and 95 rams. The results showed that the black colour coat, alone or in combination with other colours is dominant. The absence of horns is a constant character in both sexes. 95.5% of the studied animals have a great white tip, and 78% of them have a white spot on the head. The variations in tail and ears length were low and its correlations with other traits were almost zero. However, the other quantitative variables were correlated in both sexes. Sexual dimorphism (male versus female) of 1.07 was observed in the study. Males were heavier than females by 24%. The coefficient of morphological features varied from 5.35to 20%, showing some heterogeneity. There were a significant effect (P <0.05) between flocks and between sexes. High variation was observed among animals for coat colour and live weight suggesting positive selection response for genetic improvement of the D’man breed.

Biography

Mr. Abderrahmane boubekeur is a Researcher in Animal Science at the Na-tional Institute of Agronomic Research of Algeria, Adrar station. Mr. boubeke-ur is writing a doctoral thesis on the study of the Algerian D’man sheep breed.

Abderrahmane Boubekeur1, Mohammed T. Benyoucef2, Mohammed Lounassi1, Abdelkader Slimani1 and Abdelkader Maaref1

1 National Institute of Agronomic Research of Algeria (INRAA), experimental station, Adrar, Algeria2 National High School of Agronomy (ENSA) ElHarrach, Algeria


PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERISTICS OF ALGERIAN D’MAN SHEEP BREED IN ADRAR OASES

One of the main factors limiting ruminant productivity in Oman is the shortage of feed resources, which can meet their nutrient requirements. This is mainly due to the decline of natural pasture contribution to the total feed resources for ruminants. The inventory of locally available by-products and nutritive value in Oman was conducted to estimate the actual by-products which have the potential to be utilized in ruminants feeding. It was found that about 375.624 thousands Mt of crop residues and agro-industrial by-products could be avail-able annually in Oman. However, these by-products have not been efficiently utilized in animal feeding. Op-portunities exist in Oman to fill part of the gap between the supply of, and the demand for, the feed resources through efficient utilization of by-products. One technical option was the utilization of agro-industrial by-prod-ucts as alternative feed supplement for small ruminants. The most appropriate technical option in enabling the optimization of conventional feed resources and efficient utilization of agro-industrial by-products and crop residues as alternative feeds is the feed blocks technology. New methodology in feed blocks making (formu-lation, equipment and manufacturing procedure) has been developed in Oman. Feed blocks manufacturing equipment were manufactured by local artisans. These include Pan Mixer and Heavy duty Hydraulic Press with four molds. Different formulae of feed blocks were produced. These formulae were dependent mainly on local date palm by-products, inferior whole dates, sun-dried dry sardines fish, Dibis, ground date frond leaves and local wheat bran. Feed blocks can be addressed as a catalyst, strategic and substitution supplements for small ruminants, which are raised under extensive, semi-intensive and intensive production systems in Oman. The success of the new development of feed blocks technology in Oman will be considered a major breakthrough in animal feeding in Oman.

keywords: Ruminants. Agro-industrial by-products, Crop Residues, Feed blocks Technology

Biography

Dr. Salman is an expert in Animals Nutrition and Feed Mill Plant Manage, Om-ani National Livestock Development company (S.A.O.C.). At present, he is Animal Nutrition Expert, Directorate General of Agricultural & Livestock Re-search, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Oman

Alaa D. Salman1, K. M. El Shargi

Directorate General of Agriculture & Livestock Research, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries Sultanate of Oman


NEW APPROACH FOR UTILIZATION OF AGRO-INDUSTRIAL BY-PRODUCTS IN RUMINANTS

FEEDING IN OMAN

Poster

AGRC 42 AGRC 43

Data from 1,199 Omani local chickens were collected from three local lines (white, brown and black) between 2010 – 2012 at Salalah Research Station to compare the productive and reproductive traits of the three lines. The studied growth traits were day one body weight, six, ten and twenty one week body weight in addition to the marketing weight. The reproductive studied traits were conception and hatching percentage. Egg weight and egg production were also calculated. The results showed that there was a significant effect p < 0.001 be-tween the three lines. Average day one body weights (g) for the three lines were 29.2± 0.01, 28.0 ± 0.02 and 30.8 ± 0.02 and the average 6 week body weights were (kg) 1.21± 0.01 , 0.49 ± 0.01 and 1.05 ± 0.03 while the average marketing weights (kg) were 1.72 ± 0.03 , 1.46 ± 0.05 and 1.57 ± 0.05 for white, black and brown lines respectively. Conception rate was 86.4, 87.2 and 87.1% while the hatchability was 53.9, 36.7 and 54.9% and the average egg production was 183.7, 76.1 and 146.2 for white, black and brown lines respectively. It could be con-cluded that the white and brown lines were superior for the black line for most of the studied traits. The results of the brown line was close to the white one, therefore, it is recommended to keep both white and brown lines and make an intensive selection program for them and exclude the black line from the selection program due to its low productivity but still maintain it as a genetic recourse.

Ali Alshanfari1 and Ihab Shaat2

1 Salalah Research Station, Directorate General for Agricultural and Livestock Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Oman

2 Livestock Research Center, Directorate General for Agricultural and Livestock Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Oman


A STUDY TO COMPARE PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS IN THREE OMANI CHICKEN

LINES

Small ruminants are important sources of meat in Oman as their annual contribution to the total domestic red meat production exceeded 36% in 2007. Feed cost is considered as the major constrain that faces the small ruminant production in Oman giving that around 90% of the concentrates are imported. Date (Phoenix dac-tylifera) and sardines are two major feed products that are widely produced in Oman and represent excellent sources of energy and protein respectively. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of using discarded dates and sun-dried sardines on the performance and meat quality of local Omani goat breeds. Twenty-eight goats (14, Jabbali and 14, Sahrawi breeds) were randomly allocated to either a control (n=7 Jabbali and n=7 Sahrawi) or treatment (n=7 Jabbali and n=7 Sahrawi) group. After an initial 10 d adaption period, all animals were fed their allocated diet for a further 70 days. Control animals were fed a diet consisting of concentrate mixture (crude protein 14% and energy 10.5 MJ/kg DM) with ad libitum access to Rhodes grass as roughage. Treatment animals received a diet of whole dates and sardine fish formulated to the same protein and energy as the control diet with ad libitum access to Rhodes grass. Feed refusals were weighed and recorded daily and each animal weighed weekly. Immediately upon the completion of the feeding trial, three animals selected randomly from each group (n=12) were euthanized and evaluated for carcass traits. The effects of type of diet and goat breed on costs of feeding and meat were then evaluated. The experiment was conducted at the Ru-mais Livestock Research Center with collaboration from the Animal and Veterinary Science Departments of Sultan Qaboos University in Oman and Charles Sturt University in Australia.

Biography

Mr. Fahad Mahfoodh Al Yahyai works at the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisher-ies. He is the Head of the Goat & Sheep Research Division. He has a bSc from Sultan Qaboos University, Department of Animal & Veterinary Sciences. He is working on a Master’s degree from Charles Sturt University, School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, Australia. His research interests are to use Discarded Dates (Fruit) and Sun-Dried Sardines on the Performance and Meat Quality Characteristics of Local Omani Goat breeds.

Fahad Alyahyaeay 1,2,* and M.C. Barnett 1

1 School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga- Australia. 2 Goats and Sheep Research Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Rumais- Sultanate of Oman


EFFECT OF USING DISCARDED DATES (Fruit) and Sun-driEd SardinES on

THE PERFORMANCE AND MEAT QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF LOCAL OMANI GOAT

BREEDS

PosterPoster

AGRC 44 AGRC 45

Several experiments were conducted to identify productive performance of genetic groups of indigenous Iraqi lines, The experiments were carried out during 2009 – 2015 at the Poultry Research Station, Department of Animal Resources, Agriculture Research, Ministry of Agriculture. The Native birds were collected from local markets and propagated until 2011. After the election was conducted operation to local chicken lines with the prevailing colours and work on the purification of the exotic colours of education to conduct internal breeding for six lines (brown br, barred bA, black bl, White W, Naked white WN, Naked brown brN). Standardization where it was productive performance of these lines during several experiments for a period 5 years. Provided feed and water was Adlibtum for the duration of experiments and used lighting program appoint hour lighting for initial stage of age birds until access to 16 hours lighting in stage of production. It was used incubators of gas and desert cooling to control the temperature, Birds were distributed randomly on floor pens using a bed of softwood. Native Chickens were fed with the diets equal in protein and energy with three stages, initiator stage 22, 2966 and growth stage 19.2, 2858 and production stage 15.1, 2899 k. Cal. It was conducted Vaccines as applicable. It was Calculated body weight, sexual maturity egg production, the Accumulative number of eggs, egg weight, eggs mass, feed consumption feed efficiency gm feed / egg, gm feed / gm egg, quality of egg, fertility and hatchability rate. Results showed superiority brown line in most of the qualities of productiv-ity of other lines.

Biography

Dr. Firas Muzahim Hussein Al khilani is a Chief Researchers Oldest, Director of Animal Production Research Department and Manager of Animal Resourc-es Project & Grandparents of Broiler Chickens. He has 44 published scientific papers.

Firas M. H. Alkhilani, Hatem E. A. Alheti and Sabah S. Kadhim

Office of Agricultural Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Iraq


EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF DIFFERENT GENETIC LINES OF THE IRAQI NATIVE CHICKEN

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of timing and duration of supplementation with feed blocks (Fb) on reproductive performance and some blood physiological traits of Awassi ewes depend on cereal crop residues as basal feed. One hundred twenty Awassi ewes aged 2-5 years (average live weight 48.8±0.98) were allocated to four groups according to live weight and body condition score (bCS). Group C was fed a conven-tional diet made up of barley grains + cereal straw. Group PP were fed conventional diet plus feed blocks (Fb) during pre- and post-mating. Group PO was fed conventional diet plus Fb during post-mating. Group PR was fed conventional diet plus Fb during pre-mating period. All the ewes received ad libitum barley straw, and whole barley grains (300 g DM/ewe/day). The supplemented group PP was fed Fb ad libitum (28 days prior to mating and 54 days after introduction of rams). Group PO was fed Fb for 54 days after introduction of rams. Group PR fed Fb for 28 days prior introduction of rams. Cereal straw and barley grains were given in two equal daily meals. The results showed that Fb supplementation resulted considerable improvements (P<0.05) in ewes conception rate. The PP group had the highest conception rat (100%) followed by PO (96.9%), PR (86.20%) and control C (80%). The percent of ewes lambed after mating during the first and second estrus cycles were significantly (P<0.05) affected by time FB supplementation. The result also showed that FB supple-mentation during pre- and post-mating increased (P<0.05) lambing percentage (120%) followed by PO (110%), PR (103%) and C (83.3%). Blood urea was significantly higher (P<0.01) higher in the FB supplemented groups. The PP group had the highest red blood cell count followed by PO, PR and then the control C. The white blood cells count were increased (P<0.05) due to Fb supplementation. These results indicated that ewes’ conception rate, lambing rate are closely related to duration of supplementation. Despite the increase in blood urea due to Fb supplementation there was no negative impact on the reproductive performance of Awassi ewes.

Biography

Mrs. Hadeel k. Ibrahim is Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, baghdad University. She holds a bSc in Animals Production from the College of Agriculture, University of bagh-dad and an MSc in Sheep Production from the College of Veterinary Medi-cine, baghdad University. Currently, she is lecturing on Animals Nutrition to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She has 10 published scientific papers. Her research mainly focuses on the effect of nutrition on the repro-ductive performance of Awassi Sheep.

Hadeel K. Ibraheem

Department of Public Health. College of Veterinary Medicine, Baghdad University, Baghdad, Iraq


EFFECT OF FEED BLOCKS SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE AND SOME

BLOOD PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS OF AWASSI EWES

Poster

AGRC 46 AGRC 47

Meat quality is of economic importance in meat production, which is controlled by multigenes and influenced by the environment. Advances in molecular genetics have led to the identification of several markers associat-ed with genes that affect meat quality in farm animals. Sequencing camel genomes will assist in understanding how genes function and affect meat quality. Applied proteomic technologies may help identifying meat quality parameters in camels. Candidate genes and genome scans are two main strategies to identify loci associated with traits of meat quality. Proteomics were used to identify protein markers associated with quality traits in camel meat. The aim of this study was to analyze the proteome in dromedary and bactrian camel longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle, and identify proteins that correlate with meat tenderness. Proteome analysis by a combi-nation of two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry identified few (3-8) proteins that may serve as marker proteins for camel meat tenderness. The most identified proteins in camel muscles were α-actin, Tropomyosin c.

Biography

Professor Isam kadim has more than 30 years of progressive experience as an academic, consultant and researcher at three different international insti-tutes. He served on various committees and contributed to the planning and development of undergraduate and graduate programs in many institutions. at Sultan Qaboos University, his teaching has been recognized twice with Teaching Awards and his research awarded with a research award. He has published 247 articles including 111 refereed journals; three books, 12 book chapters, 63 conference refereed presentations, 14 abstracts, 11 invitations, 11 popular articles, and 22 technical reports. Recently, he has been elected as the President of ISOCARD

Kadim I.*, Mahgoub O. and Al-Maqbali R.

Department of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos Uni-versity, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

* E-mail Address: [email protected]

APPLICATION OF PROTEOMIC TECHNOLOGY TO IDENTIFY CAMEL MEAT QUALITY PARAMETERS

Phenotypic characterization of livestock serves the purpose of developing conservation and utilization pro-grams. Rustaqi indigenous cattle breed is considered as a threatened breed. An exploratory survey was under-taken within and around baghdad and babil provinces which represents its natural habitat during 2013 - 2014. A total of 66 animals (47 females and 19 males) were included in the study and 19 qualitative and quantitative morphological features were studied in addition to its environment and production systems. The qualitative features of typical Rustaqi breed are: black hair, medium (2-3 cm), black to gray not pigmented skin, muzzle, eyelids, horns and hoofs. All animals had straight facial shape 45 cm in females, little shorter and wider in males with laterally oriented ears (20 cm in females and 18 in males), short and curved horns, small size dewlaps, long black tail, in males and females with the exception that the most predominant color are black with white end in the male and straight back with no hump in females and with small size (less than 15 cm) hump in males. Quantitative studied traits showed that the average body measurements in females and males respectively are: body length 114.12cm and 109.52 cm; heart girth 156.26cm and 155.47 cm; height at withers 120.87cm and 124.6cm; pelvic widths 38.68cm and 32.554cm; muzzle circumference 43.29cm and 43.05cm and hock cir-cumferences 19.65cm and 19.89cm. Average daily milk production is 7.32 liter and the lactation length seven months while the age of the cow at first calving ranged from 2-3 years. Approximately, 85% of the farmers use a mixed crop/ livestock production system. In conclusion, the Rustaqi cattle breed is tolerant to heat stress, endemic diseases and parasites. It is known as breed of poor people because of its ability to live and produce with low level feeding, which indicate its socio-economic importance.

Biography

Dr. Sahar Albayatti is the Research Group Leader and National Co-ordinator for the Management of Animal Genetic Resources for FAO. She works for the Animal Genetic Sources Department at the Directorate of Animal Resources, Ministry of Agriculture, Iraq. She holds a PhD in Genetic Engineering, Master’s in Veterinary Public Health and bachelors in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Albayatti also holds a Post-doctoral Certificate in Genebanking from the American National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation.

Sahar albayatti, abdulamir Essa, nurri nasef, Sallama Salman, nidal abdulkader and rafid Altameemi

Animal Genetic Sources and National Gene bank, Animal Resources Directorate, Ministry of Agriculture, Iraq

*E-mail Address: [email protected]

PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERISATION OF RUSTAQI CATTLE BREED WITHIN ITS NATURAL

ENVIRONMENT

AGRC 48 AGRC 49

The main objective of this study was to assess the nutritional value of four varieties of barley (beecher, Jimah 54, Jimah 51 and Jimah 58) using commercial broiler and local poultry strains. Four experimental diets were formulated, representing four different varieties of barley and were evaluated using six replicates of eight birds per cage at 21 day of age. Cages were located in an environmentally controlled room maintained under con-ditions suitable for birds at this age with a photo-period of 23 h in every 24 h. Diets and water were offered on ad libitum basis. On the fourth day after the adaptation to the experimental diets, feed troughs were removed from every cage for 1 h and then reintroduced for 2 h. Then the birds were killed to allow for sampling of ileal digesta, from Meckel’s diverticulum to the ileal-caecal-colonic injunction. Birds showed significantly (p<0.001) higher digestibility coefficients and digestible content of amino acids across all the barley varieties than the local birds. Out of the four barley varieties evaluated in this study, beecher variety had the lowest amino acids digestibility coefficient and digestible content for the two bird breeds (p<0.001). The digestibility coefficient and digestible content of amino acids estimates for Jimah 54 was the highest across the two strains (p<0.001). The variability in digestibility and digestible content in barley varieties can be attributed to the high fiber lev-els and the presence of beta-glucan. The results of the current study suggested that the class of chickens and variety significantly influenced the apparent ileal digestibility and digestible contents of amino acids in the nutrient assessed in this study.

Biography

Dr. Waleed Said Al-Marzooqi is Associate Professor & Head of the Depart-ment of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University. Dr Al-Marzooqi holds a PhD in Poultry Nutrition from the University of Nottingham, United kingdom. His research interests include: animal responses to nutrients; assessment of nutritional value of feedstuffs; quantification the impact of anti-nutritional factors to-gether with processing conditions; meat production and science

W. Al-Marzooqi1, I.T. Kadim1, O. Mahgoub1, M. Al-Busaidi1, S.M. Al-Lawati1,R. Al-Maqbaly1, S. Al-Wheebi1 and A.N. Al-Bakery2

1Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences,Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

2Ministry of Agriculture, Directorate General of Agricultural and Livestock Research,Muscat, Sultanate of Oman


EFFECT OF STRAIN OF CHICKENS ON ILEAL AMINO ACIDS DIGESTIBILITY OF DIFFERENT

VARIETIES OF BARLEY

• Theme 4 Conservation & Genetic Improvement

Poster

AGRC 50 AGRC 51

Traditionally, camel milk is consumed raw or fermented. Nowadays, the urbanized population is looking for more diversified products. Currently, new products like fermented milk with specific starters or camel cheese are available. The methodology for making new fermented products and cheese is presented. For making spe-cific fermented products, lactic bacteria were identified, those having specific activity (gas production, taste, lactose degradation and acidification) were selected and their growth in industrial fermenters was assessed. Specific starters adapted for camel milk were put on the market for producing specific fermented products. The present communication is based on the experience in kazakhstan were the consumption of fermented camel milk named shubat is very popular.Regarding camel cheese, the combination of new chymozyme proposed by Hansen ©, named Chy-Max-M, the use of specific starters and camel milk with high controlled quality led to the possibility to set up different types of camel cheese with their own organoleptic characters. Different types of soft cheese were produced like Feta or Haloumi type camel cheese. The present communication is based on the experience in Saudi Arabia where many different kinds of cheese technologies were tested.These two experiences open new opportunities for the dairy camel industry in the countries where camel is of high cultural and economic importance.

Biography

DVM, PhD and State Doctorate (HDR). After eight-years African experience both in development (Niger) and in research (Ethiopia), epidemiologist and head of Ecopathology laboratory (INRA-France) for ten years (studies on risk factors of diseases in dairy farming systems), then joining CIRAD - Montpel-lier as head of animal production program. At present, International camel expert FAO.

Keynote Speaker

Bernard Faye1, Gaukhar Konuspayeva2

1 CIRAD-ES, UMR SELMET, Montpellier, France2 Al-Farabi University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

*E-mail Address: [email protected]

INNOVATIONS IN CAMEL MILK PROCESSING

The Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) was founded by a decision of the Arab League in 1968, in order to unify national efforts to develop the agricultural scientific research in the arid and semi-arid areas, to exchange of information and experiences, to benefit from the outcome of scientific pro-gress and to transfer, develop and localize of modern agricultural technologies for maintaining the sustainable development of the agricultural and animal genetic resources in Arab countries. Effective management of an-imal genetic diversity is essential to achieve Arab food security, sustainable development and the livelihoods of millions of people, especially in arid and semi areas. The cooperation between ACSAD and the Ministries of Agriculture in Arab states has set up as In situ gene banks of local sheep and goats strains (22 stations in 13 Arab countries) in order to reproduce them and study their genetic and breeding values, then re-distributed them to breeders at their habitats. because of the importance of preserving the animal genetic resources ACSAD issued 21 encyclopedias included inventory and characterization of animal genetic resources, and their deployed in all the Arab countries, two encyclopedias to characterize the local strains of sheep Arab goats, three encyclopedi-as for characterization of local cow strains, encyclopedia of buffalo, and the encyclopedia of antelope, deer and elk.. Recently, In 2011 ACSAD issued Atlas of farm animals in the Arab countries included description and eval-uation of Small Ruminants, Cows, Buffaloes, Camels, Horses, Donkeys, Chickens, Rabbits, Pigeons. ACSAD also issued more than 403 studies, guidance, leaflets and scientific papers in the fields of breeding, husbandry, nutrition, reproduction, health of animal genetic resources in the Arab countries. To ensure the propagation of local strains by raising the fertility and birth rates, and keeping distinct genotypes ACSAD constructed four lab-oratories of artificial insemination (Syria, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya) to deploy the technic of artificial insemination and the production of semen straws from local small ruminants and storage for several years as Ex-situ in deep freeze tanks using liquid nitrogen. Furthermore, to overcome the lack of forage resources that threaten animal genetic resources; ACSAD issued 21 studies on the feed sources and carried out 13 studies of the fodder budg-ets in the Arab countries. ACSAD’S experts designed the manufacture unit of feed templates using agricultural waste, and manufactured more than 15 units and distributed to the Arab States. Finally, ACSAD implemented the camel research and development network in 12 Arab and foreign countries.

Biography

Dr. Abdelwali Al-Aghbari, Director of animal wealth Department ,the Arab Center (ACSAD), the League of Arab States; Head of inventory and charac-terization of animal genetic resources program in the Arab States & head of Small Ruminant improvement program in the Arab States. Obtained the PhD degree from Oregon State University, USA, in 1992 and Member of Agricul-ture Faculty in Sana’a University.

Abdulwali M. Alaghbari

Director of Animal Wealth Department, The Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), Damascus, Syria


THE ROLE OF ACSAD IN INVENTORY, CHARACTERIZATION AND CONSERVATION OF

ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES IN THE ARAB STATES- REVIEW

Poster

AGRC 52 AGRC 53

Camels are managed by three methods; traditional pastoral system, semi-open method and housing method. In Oman, people use camels for sport, meat and milk production. The total numbers of camels in the Sultanate has increased from 124,000 camels in 2009 (FAO, 2009) to 242,833 (Agriculture Censuses 2013). The camel population in Oman is higher in the Dhofar Governorate whereas Alsharqiya North Governorate ranks second with a total of 21,577 camels (8.89%). The aim of this survey was to determine the geographical distribution and investigate the management of camels in Wilayat Alqabil in Alsharqiya North Governorate. We collected data (village name, camel name, gender, purpose, age) from camel owners in 28 villages of Alqabil. The total number of camel was 3,875. The majority were used for racing (1,209) and 187 were used for production. Fe-male owners were 87.8% whereas males represented 12.2%. The highest number of camels was in Magsser (17.2%) and the lowest in Almsyna. No male owners were found in nine villages of Alqabil whereas in Aldareez village the percentage of male was high (24%) from total number of male. Recording information about cam-els is important to build strategies to develop camel production and conserve breeds. It is important to carry out research and support camel keepers to develop this sector at different levels.

Biography

Amal Hamed Al kharusi works at the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries. She is an Animal Production Specialist. She obtained bSc and MSc degrees from Sultan Qaboos University, Department of Animal & Veterinary Sciences. She works on the SQU funded Composition, Quality and Histology of Camel Mus-cles project. She is currently writing a project proposal: Control of Camel Tryp-anosomiases in Ash Sharqiyia Region, funded by the Agriculture & Fisheries Development Fund. Her research interests are camel production and health and studying the background and record of camels breeds.

a.H. al Kharusi*, K. mohamed, r. al Sinadi, n.S.Banioraba and F.H. al Saifi

*Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Sultanate of Oman

* E-mail Address: [email protected]

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF OMANI CAMELS IN WILLAYET ALQABIL

Altamurana is an endangered Apulian sheep breed worthy of preservation because of its significant features concerning history, robustness, tolerance to tick borne diseases, and unusual hemoglobin polymorphism. Thus, in 2013, the University of bari undertook a research project aiming at reporting on the status of the breed. The program was funded by the Alta Murgia National Park with the specific purpose of monitoring: i) numbers of local farms raising Altamurana breed; b) population size; c) productive, reproductive and health parameters; d) stakeholder involvement and sensitization about biodiversity issues. Here we report the preliminary results of a two-year action plan. Firstly, statistics of the Altamurana breed were derived. Current census size data were obtained with farm-by-farm detail. A total of eight flocks were found, summing up to 507 heads. The informa-tion collected included number of sires and dams, age, health status (body condition scores, hematological and biochemical parameters, gastro-intestinal parasitism), and screening of hemoglobin polymorphism. Av-erage flock size ranged 30 to 145 animals; total rams numbered 54¸ while the ewes numbered 453, resulting in an effective population size (Ne) of 193 sheep. Records for condition scores, haematology and biochem-istry results, and the faecal test to check for intestinal parasites generally depicted a healthy pattern of the flocks. Analysis of allele frequencies for the beta-globin locus and those related to the alpha-globin haplotypes confirmed the presence of all the variants reported in previous studies, pointing that no losses of rare alleles occurred, despite the small population size. This survey provided insight into the positive attitude of farmers towards the breed preservation. The population is increasing (N=773, 2014), as the farmers tend to keep most of new-borns; thus. Based on the above considerations there are reasons to be confident about the future of the Altamurana breed.

Antonio Capogna, Stefano Deramo, Paolo Di Renzo, Elena Ciani and Elisa Pieragostini*



THE ALTA MURGIA NATIONAL PARK BIODIVERSITY PLAN: CONSERVATION ACTIONS

FOR THE ALTAMURANA SHEEP BREED

Poster Poster

AGRC 54 AGRC 55

The ancient Arabian Peninsula has played a paramount role in the dispersal of many animal species between the major domestication centres of South Asia, Near East and Northeast Africa. During their dispersal across the Arabian Peninsula, livestock have been subjected to natural and human selection, mutation and genetic drift forces. Such dispersion and evolutionary processes have resulted in the high genetic diversity and the excellent adaptation capabilities that characterize livestock breeds in the peninsula. Livestock breeds are im-portant genetic resources that contribute to the socioeconomic of many smallholder families in the region. In order to develop any conservation and improvement programs, a better understanding on their domestication history, origin and phylogeny is needed. Here, we are reviewing the results of all genetic and historical studies that have been conducted over the past two decades on five animal species; cattle, camel, goat, sheep, donkey and chicken in the Arabian Peninsula.

Badar A. Alqamashoui

Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Muscat, Oman


THE ORIGIN AND DIVERSITY OF LIVESTOCK SPECIES IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA; A GENETIC

REVIEW AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Here we present the International Camel Consortium for Genetic Improvement and Conservation (ICC-GIC), established during the 4th Conference of ISOCARD 2015 at Almaty, kazakhstan. Old World camelids (Camelus dromedarius, Camelus bactrianus, Camelus ferus) have until recently, been relatively ignored with regard the livestock ‘’genomic revolution’’. This is particularly unfortunate given the importance of the two domesticated species for many pastoral societies, and in a context where several camel populations are at risk of losing their genetic diversity or even close to extinction. Recent genome drafts for Old World camelids are now opening the door to genomic studies, though no genome-wide screening tools have been made available yet. Despite their recognized milk and meat production potential, camels have not been specifically selected for economi-cally important traits. In parallel, the lack of camel identification and production recording systems are consid-ered to be a major obstacle to develop camel agribusiness. According to the need for improvement of camel performances as an important genetic resource while conserving biodiversity and local adaptation, the ICC-GIC was established with the overall objectives: 1) Enabling camel-holding countries to use genomic tools for the conservation of genetic diversity and for the genetic improvement of camels. 2) Supporting, at various levels, the network of scientists and professionals to boost and collaborate on camel genetic conservation and improvement, phenotypic recording and management to promote a sustainable development of the camel sector and food security. 3) Increasing public awareness regarding the advantages of camel products. Follow-ing the work plan of the ICC-GIC we expect multiple research outcomes: (i) improving genome assemblies and genetic tools to enhance camel genetic improvement, (ii) standardization of animal identification and data recording procedures for the implementation of breeding programs, (iii) improving camel productivity, and (iv) enhancing research capacity of scientists and professionals in camel-holding countries.

Hussein Bahbahani1, Faisal Almathen2, Fuad Alzureiq3, Moez Ayadi4, Raed M. Alatiyat5, Mohamed H. Yahyaoui6, Mohammed Bengoumi7, Bernard Faye8, Elena Ciani9 and Pamela Burger10

1Faculty of Science, Department of Biological sciences, Kuwait University, State of Kuwait2Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal Welfare, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal

Resources, King Faisal University, Al-Hasa, Saudi Arabia 3Ministry of Agriculture, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 4De-partment of Animal Production, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh,

Saudi Arabia 5 Animal Biotechnology, Animal Science Department, Agriculture Faculty, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 6Livestock and Wildlife Laboratory, Arid Lands Institute, Medenine, Tunisia

7FAO Subregional Office for North Africa 8CIRAD-ES, UMR SELMET, Campus International de Baillarguet, Montpellier, France 9Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and Biopharmaceutics, University of Bari,

Italy 10Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Vetmeduni Vienna, Vienna, Austria


INTERNATIONAL CAMEL CONSORTIUM FOR GENETIC IMPROVEMENT AND CONSERVATION

Poster

AGRC 56 AGRC 57

This project started in 2008 and aimed to produce a synthetic line of chickens under hot climate conditions in Egypt and Arab countries. The project was financed by Benha University, Egypt. The new produced synthetic line was named Line benha (Line b). It was founded in 2011 as a synthetic line between the Egyptian Golden Montazah (50%) and the White Leghorn (50 %). The procedure of foundation began with mating Golden Mon-tazah cocks with White Leghorn hens and was followed by three generations of “intense” mating. The line has been recognized for its production and quality according to the predicted breeding values based on the bLUP procedure using animal model. A description of the main features of the Line b chickens was carried out and the phenotypic and productive characters were recorded. The feather colour of the adult chickens was mostly White (70%). The line shows good adaptation to hot climate conditions (15-35oC). It has high resistance to Pas-teurellosis and Salmonella diseases, high fertility (93%) and hatchability (86%), low mortality rate (1%) during the production period. It shows moderate body weight at sexual maturity (1742g) and age at sexual maturity was 159.6 d. The annual production was 230 eggs with a moderate egg weight (55g). Eggs are white with a shape index of 79.1%. It shows high Haugh units (93.8 %) and the live body weight was 1970g and 1269g for males and females respectively. The carcass weight was 1273g for cocks with moderate dressing percentage (65%). The new synthesized b Line has shown high productive traits under hot climate conditions in Egypt.

Biography

Dr. Mahmoud M. Iraqi is Professor of Poultry breeding & Genetics, Dean of Faculty of Agriculture, benha University, Egypt. He holds an MSc and PhD in Poultry breeding, from the Faculty of Agriculture, benha University. Profes-sor Iraqi is Principal Investigator for more than five international projects to Develop rabbit strains in Egypt. He established a new line of rabbits named “Moshtohor line” which adapted to hot climate conditions. He has published more than 46 publications.

Iraqi M.M., Khalil M.H., Elattrouny M.M.

Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, 13736- Moshtohor, Toukh-Qaly-oubia, Egypt


THE PHENOTYPIC AND PRODUCTIVE CHaraCtEriZation oF BEnHa-linE CHiCKEn in

EGYPT Farm animal genetic resources are an integral part of the agricultural wealth of Yemen providing food and oth-er agricultural products and services. It is well-documented that indigenous farm animals genetic resources, i.e. those indigenous and local breeds, landraces, strains and variety of animals, have developed over millen-nia adapting to specific local conditions and needs and they often constitute part of the country’s heritage and the basis for any livestock development. Yemeni and international literature shows that Yemen has more than 35 indigenous and derived breeds of livestock excluding exotic breeds. Most of these breeds are named in an ad hoc manner according to their geographical location. The variation in topography and climate in the country have contributed significantly to the formation of such breeds. There are 11 traditionally recognized sheep breed in Yemen, of which five are wool and six are hair types. Goats have nine breeds; however, there is disagreement on defining them as breeds, as is the case with sheep. All the sheep and goats breeds are in-digenous and are essentially managed under one type of production system namely, extensive system based primarily on grazing on rangelands as well as on stubbles. There are 9 million sheep in the country, of which 23% are raised in Tehama Plain. The goat population is also 9 million of which 28% are raised in Hadramout and Al-Mahra governorates. Hence, both sheep and goats have positive population growth rate. There are 1.7 million cattle in the country and 95% of them are derived from Zebu type. There are four breeds of camels, six of horses, and three of donkeys. No reliable figures are available for local chicken breeds. Thus, to monitor the state of animal genetic resources in the country animal census must take the breed into account, initially until some breed standards have been established.

Biography

Dr. Salih Abdu Ahmed Al-Sharaby obtained a bSc from king Faisal Univer-sity and an MSc and PhD from Oklahoma State University and Virginia Tech University in Animal breeding and biotechnology. He has worked in several universities - Virginia Tech, Sana’a University and the UAE University. He has published more than 40 publications and holds several academic positions - Department Chair, Vice Dean, Research Center).

Mohamed A. Al-Karmah and Salih A. Al-Shorepy

Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Sana’a University, Republic of Yemen


FARM ANIMAL GENETIC RESOURCES IN YEMEN: FACTSHEET

Poster

AGRC 58 AGRC 59

Major advances in information technology and biology bring profound influences on Bioinformatics due to its interdisciplinary nature. A massive amount of new sequencing data is being generated worldwide and driven by the complex biological data which should be advancing rapidly enough to handle it. These generated data hold the potential to allow decision-makers to track development progress. At present, bioinformatics use big Data technology, an umbrella term has been one of the biggest trends of the last few years, leading to an increase of research as well as industrial applications. However, there are a number of issues that arise when dealing with these vast quantities of data, especially how to analyze it in a reliable manner. This paper dis-cusses in detail the major challenges that slow-down big Data technology in bioinformatics. These challenges include: firstly, the requirement of advances scalable algorithms and new database constructs. Second, data needs to be trained by different scientists in order to find its limitations and enhance algorithm performances. Third, the big Data proliferation can cause a bottleneck if data ends up parked on several servers and thus still needs to be moved and shared. Finally, data-driven science should discover action-oriented insights that lead to charting new discoveries or impacts. Thus, this paper proposes several solutions to these challenges: Devel-op high quality software tools to support genetic resources analysis. Manage large data sets using the cloud. Improve data trust by designing a keen filter that separates the correct data. Enhance the decision-making process and build accurate complex genetic models. In addition, a discussion about new opportunities and applications of big Data is presented.

Biography

Mostafa kamil Abdulhusain received his PhD in Communications Engineer-ing from Yuan-Ze University, Taiwan in 2015. His current work mainly focuses on different aspects of wireless communications, big data, cloud computing and routing protocol.

Mostafa K. Abdulhusain

Department of Communications Engineering, Yuan Ze University, Chung-Li, Taiwan


BIG DATA CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN GENETIC RESOURCES AND BIOINFORMATICS

The Arabian Peninsula and the adjoining regions are among the red marked areas, severely affected with creeping desertification and climate change calamities. Sustainable farming and food production is a serious question and alarming fact in the harsh and hostile ecosystem of the region. Thousands of years ago, nature re-sponded to the plea of the thirstiest lands (Arabian Peninsula, the cradle of camel domestication) and gifted it with the highly adapted animal genetic resource (the camel) to ensure sustainable livelihood for the dwellers of the region. Initially, domesticated for its precious and sustainable milk, but later used for other purposes. With the introduction of the automobile and developed infrastructures, the camel was neglected by policy makers. Only hobbyist and nomads had been keeping this precious genetic resource to ensure livelihoods in desert lands and enjoy the unique racing ability of the camel. The 21st century brought with it awareness vis-a-vis de-sertification, global warming and climate change. In such a scenario, many scientists realized and appreciated the importance of camels in this scenario. Many groups and organizations began to promote the camel as a source of sustainable food production. Numerous scientific findings have been published on different aspects of the camel during this period and new institutes and farms have been established. Camel milk especially has become popular and recommended by physicians for a variety of health ailments. New camel farms and dairies have been established in different parts of the world and the UAE plays a leading role in this area. This OAP-GRC-organized conference on animal genetic resources is a great opportunity to highlight the issues related to camel genetic resources and to suggest ways for sustainable use and conservation of camel genetics.

Biography

Professor Raziq Abdul kakar holds a PhD in Camel Science - breeding & Man-agement, and until 2014 was Professor and Dean Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Science at Lasbela University in Pakistan. Recently working as Tech-nical Operation Manager in state-of- the-art, modern camel dairy farm, Alain UAE. He is founder of the organization ‘Camels4Life’. His area of interest is: “converting camel from a beast of burden to a sustainable farm animal”.

Raziq A.

Technical Manager Alain Dairy Camel farms, Alain, UAE


CAMEL GENETIC RESOURCES ARE THE BEST TOOL TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION AND

CLIMATE CHANGE

Poster

AbSTRACT bOOk - OAPGRC book (15-3-2016...My presentation will focus on the major break-throughs of next-generation sequencing (NGS). I will provide several examples of breakthroughs

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