Genetic Polymorphism of Microsatellite Loci and Their Association with Reproductive Traits in Ukrainian Meat Breed Pigs

Abstract

The primary goal of the study was to estimate the genetic diversity and population structure of the Ukrainian Meat breed pigs. Twelve microsatellite markers were selected from the list of the microsatellites recommended by FAO/ ISAG. The range of alleles per locus (Na) was found to be from 5 to 14 with an average of 8.42, and a total of 101 alleles were observed at these loci. The observed heterozygosity (Ho) was averaged 0.668 and expected heterozygosity (He) was 0.718, respectively. The LD-based population effective size (Ne) estimate for the Ukrainian Meat breed pigs was 68.3 (95% CI: 52–92) individuals. This population has not undergone any recent and/or sudden reduction in the effective population size and remained at mutation–drift equilibrium. The SW24, SW951, SW240, S0101, SW936, and S0228 loci genotypes were found to affect the total number of piglets born (TNB), the number of piglets born alive (NBA), and the number of piglets weaned (NW).