1ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar-125 001, Haryana, India
2ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar-125 001, Haryana, India
3Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar-144 411, Punjab, India
4ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Hyderabad-500 030, Telangana, India
5Maharaja Agrasen University, Solan-174 103, Himachal Pradesh, India
*Corresponding Author: Anuradha Bhardwaj, ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines, Hisar-125 001, Haryana, India, Email: dranu.biotech@gmail.com
Online Published on 14 October, 2024.
Halari donkey is a distinct breed of India that comes from the community of migrants from the regions of Halar, Bharwad and Rabaris of Gujarat. They have a brief history of travel and migration from arid and semi-arid regions of India. The population of Halari donkeys has fallen drastically in past and is further declining; therefore, these donkeys may be recognized as a threatened breed in near future.
The genetic diversity of this breed was determined using the D-loop gene of 542 bp size belonging to mitochondrial DNA and compared with the complete mitochondrial genome of Equus asinus (NC_001788.1). In the present study, a total of 8 haplotypes were identified with haplotype diversity of 0.8152 and nucleotide diversity of 0.1281 indicating that the population has high genetic diversity. The Median-joining network tree and neighbour-joining trees revealed close clustering of the Halari donkeys.
The high nucleotide and haplotype diversity suggest Halari donkeys as a unique population and proper management and conservation is the need of the hour.
Breed, Donkey, Genetic diversity, Halari, Mitochondria
