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An overview of swine production and marketing in Africa - Mini review
121-129Views:51Pigs are the oldest domesticated animals, though their ancestry is still uncertain because of a lack of archaeological and genetic evidence. Pigs serve a vital role in reducing the demand for livestock and livestock products in most parts of the world. Especially in the African continent, pigs serve as mobile cash implying how easily they can be converted into cash to sort pressing family needs. Pig production in Africa is different from advanced systems of production in temperate countries, however, it has similarities with most of the tropical low and middle-income nations. Pig production in Africa requires attention to enable it to contribute effectively to the growing African population. However, it has been orchestrated with a myriad of challenges including market access. This mini-review is designed in a manner to provide an overview of pig production contribution to livelihoods in Africa and associated challenges with possible appropriate solutions.
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Development of an InDel marker set to establish hybridization between wild boar and domestic pig (Sus scrofa) breeds
21-25Views:274Wild boar and domestic pig breeds belong to the same species (Sus scrofa), so they can easily have viable offspring. This could be a problem in preserving the genetic lines of wild boars, keeping clean the food industry from lower-grade hybrid boar meat, and „producing” ethically questionable trophies, too. The aim of our study was to develop a cost-efficient, fast, easy and accurate marker set which can separate the wild boars from hybrids and domestic pig breeds.
The InDel markers were developed using 59 full pig genomes of 17 different breeds (e.g. Duroc, Large White, Landrace, Mangalica, wild boar). Sequence differences between the genomes of wild boars and domestic breeds were identified in variant call files, and verified using the IGV software. Wild boar, mangalica and duroc specific primers to amplify the chosen InDel regions were designed using Primer3.
After preliminary tests five markers were chosen, three wild boar specific, one Mangalica specific and one Duroc specific one. Fluorescently labelled primers were used to make the valuation easier and more accurate with capillary electrophoresis instead of gel-electrophoresis. The markers were optimised individually and in multiplex conditions and tested in samples of 11 breeds.
In conclusion, a new, faster and cheaper set was developed to separate the wild boars from the hybrids and domestic breeds. Based on the preliminary testing on wild boars, duroc and mangalica breeds zero samples resulted false negative, so it is 100% accurate. In addition, it is a much more cost- and time-effective way than testing every single sample with STR sets.