DNA microsatellites to ascertain pedigree-recorded information in a selecting nucleus of Murciano-Granadina dairy goats

Dam-recorded information was checked out in a selection scheme of dairy goats in South-eastern Spain. A total of 388 dam-offspring verifications were molecularly achieved using nine microsatellite markers. Five of these markers (SR-CRSP- 1, SR-CRSP-5, SR-CRSP-8, SR-CRSP-9 and INRA011c) were chosen from the literature according to their polymorphic information content (PIC). Three markers (ChirUCO2, ChirUCO4 and ChirUCO5) were cloned in the same nucleus, and the remaining one was the ETH10 bovine microsatellite. The number of alleles observed were 10, 7, 7, 14, 21, 8, 7, 7, and 7 for the markers SR-CRSP-1, SR-CRSP-5, SR-CRSP-8, SR-CRSP-9, INRA011c, ChirUCO2, ChirUCO4, ChirUCO5 and ETH10, respectively. The global exclusion probability accomplished was 0.9991. On the other hand, among the 388 verifications carried out, 71.9% (279) resulted compatible, while 16.2% (63) were clearly incompatible. Most of the incompatibilities (84.1%) were due to less than four markers. These results suggest that a high percentage of dam-registered information in the selection nucleus could be erroneous, due to the archaic system used for animal identification and for data transfer. Thus an automated method of identification and data reporting should be considered to reduce the high level of errors encountered. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.