Phenotypic and genetic characterization of Halari donkey of Gujarat

Halari donkey have a habitat of Halar and adjoining regions includes Jamnagar, Surendranagar and Devbhumi Dwarka districts of Gujarat. On the basis of phenotypic and molecular characterization, it got registration as a new breed of donkey with the accession number INDIA_DONKEY_0400_HALARI_05002 and considered as first donkey breed of Gujarat. A total of 269 animals includes 28 males and 241 females were examined for body measurements. Halari donkey possessed predominantly white coat colour along with grayish black muzzle, white eyelid, black hooves and white tail switch in almost 100% of males and females of Halari donkey. The ears in Halari donkey were predominantly erect in majority of population, however, laterally oriented ears were also observed. The tail setting was observed predominantly upto hock joint followed by its position beyond hock and above hock joint. The temperament is generally docile; however, nervous temperament was also rarely observed. The average face length, face width, ear length, ear width was observed as 46.86+ 0.09, 16.89+ 0.20, 28.64+0.16 and 10.64+ 0.12 cm in males while, 46.56+0.04, 19.60+ 0.06, 29.53+ 0.05 and 12.36+ 0.04 cm in females, respectively. The age at puberty, age at first service in male, age at first oestrus, oestrus cycle duration, oestrus duration, age at first heat, age at first foaling, service period, foaling interval, gestation period and lifetime number of foaling were observed as 12.95 months, 26.77 months, 13.30 months, 20.40 days, 6.72 days, 25.20 months, 36.93 months, 11.30 days, 12.15 months, 12 months and 7.83 number, respectively. Molecular characterization of 81 Halari donkey using 26 pairs of primers indicated 23 markers to be polymorphic. The observed heterozygosity (Ho) ranged from 0.0 to 0.788 for Halari donkey indicating considerable variation in the distribution of allele frequencies between loci observed in Halari donkey. Medium average number of observed alleles (5.87) in Halari donkey population with average observed heterozygosity value > 0.40 indicates less genetic variability existing in this population.