Elucidating population structure and genetic diversity of intercross sheep through pedigree analysis

The aim of this study was to assess the population structure and genetic diversity along with determining the accuracy of ongoing selection program in a closed flock of Intercross sheep through pedigree analysis. The pedigree records of 2245 animals maintained at CSWRI-NTRS, Garsa, Kullu during the period from 2012 to 2023 were utilized to calculate the genealogical information, genetic conservation index and other parameters based on gene origin probabilities. Lambs born during 2020 and 2023 were considered as reference population. ENDOG version 4.8 software package was used for pedigree analysis. Analysis revealed that the mean generation interval for the reference population was 3.20 years with a longer interval in dam-offspring pathways relative to sire-offspring pathways. Average inbreeding coefficients for whole and reference population were 0.21 and 0.49 % and corresponding average relatedness was 1.24 and 1.72 %, respectively. The average maximum, equivalent and completed generations were 2.50, 1.96 and 1.63 with 0.12 %, 0.17 % and 0.20 % increase in inbreeding coefficient, respectively. This resultant effective population size estimated using individual increase in inbreeding was 156.52. Effective numbers of founders (f_e) and ancestors (f_a) was 68 and 61, respectively for reference population with a ratio of 1.11, indicating occurrence of minor effects of bottleneck in the flock. The genetic contribution of most influent ancestors contributing 50 % of the gene pool was only 23. The estimated founder genome (f_g) and non-founder genome (f_ng) were 35.87 and 75.91, respectively in the present population. The estimate for f_g/f_a ratio was 0.59 which explained that 59 % of the original genetic diversity is exit in the reference population. Genetic conservation index (GCI) ranged from 1 % to 20.28 % with a mean value of 4.91 %. Overall, males recorded a slightly higher GCI than females, i.e., 5.23 vs 4.65 %, respectively. The results revealed that, the population has augmented genetic diversity and low level of inbreeding. Small fraction of genetic diversity was vanished due to unequal contribution of founders and minor bottleneck effects occurred due to disproportionate contribution of breeding animals to gene pool of population. Use of a sufficient number of breeding rams and optimum contribution selection (OCS) is recommended to maintain the genetic diversity as well as enhancing production potential in this population.