Haemoglobin Polymorphism in West African Dwarf Goats of Nigeria

This study describes the genetic structure from the haemoglobin (Hb) locus in West African Dwarf (WAD) goat using Cellulose acetate electrophoresis. Three genotypes were identified: the fast haemoglobin named Hb^A type, theintermediate migration labelled Hb^AB type and the slow haemoglobin designated Hb^B type. These genotypes weredetermined by the two co-dominant alleles, Hb^A and Hb^B. The two alleles control three haemoglobin genotypes: twohomozygotes, Hb^AA and Hb^BB, and one heterozygote, Hb^AB. The allele Hb^B had a higher frequency of occurrence(74%) than the allele Hb^A (26%). The Hb^BB had a higher incidence in the population (58%) in comparison withtheother two genotypes; the Hb^AB had a moderate frequency (32%) and Hb^AA had the least occurrence (10%). Theobserved heterozygosity (0.32) was lower than the expected heterozygosity (0.38) in the current study, the test forHardy-Weinberg equilibrium was not significant (P > 0.05).