Using of SNP markers to estimate inbreeding, coancestry and effective population size in Sicilian cattle breeds

Maintaining the highest levels of genetic diversity and limiting the increase in inbreeding is the premise of most conservation programs. The aim of this work was to estimate the inbreeding (F), coancestry (f) and effective population size (Ne) in two Sicilian cattle breeds, Cinisara (CIN) and Modicana (MOD). Rate of molecular inbreeding and coancestry were used to estimate the Ne. A total of 144 animals were genotyped using the Illumina Bovine SNP50K v2 BeadChip. The average molecular F and f coefficients were 0.68±0.024 and 0.67±0.03 in CIN and 0.69±0.020 and 0.70±0.03 in MOD cattle breeds, respectively. The results were not unexpected considering the reduced number of reared animals and …