Haemoglobin, transferrin and serum alkaline phosphatase polymorphism in Kanni Adu breed of goats*

Haemoglobin, transferrin and serum alkaline phosphatase polymorphism and the allele frequencies of variants in the Kanni Adu goats were studied by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Of the three, only transferrin and serum alkaline phosphatase exhibited polymorphism and haemoglobin was found to be monomorphic with an allele frequency of 1.0 for HBA. The study revealed the existence of three transferrin variants TpA, TpB and Tpc in Kanni Adu goats. Though six different combinations of phenotypes are possible only five phenotypes TpA, TFB, Tpc, TpAB and TpBC were detected. The estimated frequencies of TpA, TpB and Tpc alleles were 0.269, 0.675 and 0.056 respectively. Kanni Adu goats exhibited two serum alkaline phosphatase phenotypes, ALpF and ALpo and the frequencies of ALpF and ALpo alleles were estimated to be 0.290 and 0.710 respectively. Based on the results Kanni Adu can be characterized by the predominance of TpB variant and the presence of TFc variant which has been reported in very few breeds of Indian goats.