Parentage verification of South African Angora goats, using microsatellite markers

South African Angora goats are farmed under extensive production systems in relatively large herds. As a result, breeders make use of group and flock-mating systems that limit accurate parentage recording and selection efficiency. In this study the aim was to refine a panel of microsatellite markers suitable for parentage verification in South African Angora goats. The markers were first evaluated based on the number of alleles, allele frequency, PIC, H-E, H-O and individual exclusion probability, and secondly as part of a panel. Eighteen markers were tested in 192 South African Angora goats representing different family structures with known and unknown parent information. The final set of microsatellite markers, with the strongest exclusion and the least number of microsatellite markers, consisted of 14 microsatellite markers namely BM1258, BM1329, BM1818, BM7160, CSRD247, HSC, INRA63, INRABERN192, MCM527, OarFCB48, SRCRSP5, SRCRSP8, SRCRSP9 and SRCRSP24. This panel had a combined first-parent exclusion probability of 99.7% and it was possible to perform parental identification in a test family.