Genetic diversity of colombian creole sheep

Objective. To characterize genetically the Colombian Creole sheep and their relations with breeds of European origin. Materials and methods. 261 blood samples from the following populations were collected: Wool Creole (WC), Colombian Mora (CM), Hair Creole (HC), Mestizos (Mes), Hampshire (Hamp), Corriedale (Corr) , Katahdin (Kath), Pelibuey (Pel), in 40 farms of eight departments (Córdoba, Magdalena, Cesar, Atlántico, Valle del Cauca, Nariño, Boyacá and Tolima) and 30 samples of Spanish Merino (SM), Merino Precoz (MP) ), Merinofleischschaf (MF), Segureño (Seg) and Uda (UD) of Nigeria. A total of 15 microsatellite markers were included in this study. Results. In Creole sheep, the average number of alleles found was 6.20 ± 1.48 (CL), 7.27 ± 1.39 (CP) and 3.60±1.55 (MC); genetic diversity was also high in them (heterozygosities greater than 75%), negative values in the FIS revealed a high degree of introgression. In addition, the FST revealed genetic structure in both the Creole groups (FST=0.02**) and in the sampled departments (FST=0.039**). According to the genetic distance, the Colombian Creole sheep show differences with the foreign sheep. Conclusions. The results obtained recommend protecting the Creole ovine culture since it is threatened by constant crossbreeding with foreign breeds, which would lead to loss of the genetic identity and the adaptation characteristics of the Creole animals.