FASN gene polymorphism and its relationship with milk yield and Composition in the Iraqi Awassi sheep

Abstract

This study was conducted at the Barakat Abu Fadl al-Abbas (peace be upon him) sheep breeding station / Al-Kafeel General Investment Company in Karbala Governorate for the period from 1/12/2020 to 1/6/2021, with the aim of determining the Frequency of Alleles and Genetic Manifestations of the FASN gene and its relationship to milk production and its main components from The percentage of fat, protein, lactose and non-fat solids in Iraqi Awassi sheep, 51 female Awassi sheep were used in this study. The percentage of distribution of genotype for the FASN gene in the studied Awassi sheep sample was 7.84, 21.57 and 7.59% for each of the structures AA, AC and CC, respectively, and the two alleles were A and C, with a frequency of 0.19 and 0.81. respectively, significant differences were found in total milk production. As for the milk components, only the protein percentage was affected significantly by the different genotype, and there was no significant effect for the other components by the different genotype of the FASN gene. From the results of the current study, it can be concluded that the FASN gene can be adopted as an important indicator in the development of genetic improvement strategies for Awassi sheep to maximize the economic return from breeding projects by selecting and cross-breeding the genotypes that achieved the best productive performance.