Three Local Cattle Breeds from Tuscany (Italy): Genetic Diversity and Similarity

The aim of this research was to evaluate the gentic diversity of three local cattle breeds reared in tuscany (Italy) by molecular markers. A total of 149 animals (63 Calvana, CAL; 23 Potremolese, PON; and 43 Garfagnina, GAR) were genetically characterized by using 22 STR markers. Genetic similarities were calculated by performing all possible pair-wise comparisons between the individual multilocus genotypes. F-statistics, molecular coancestry and inbreeding coefficients and kinship distances were obtained using MolKin v.2.0. A high genetic differentiation between breeds was observed (Fst= 0.172 for CAL/PON, 0.166 for PON/GAR and 0.131 for CAL/GAR; P<0,001). Between-breeds genetic similarity was 0,250 for CAL/PON and POPN/GAR and 0.252 for CAL/GAR. Within-breed genetic similarity was 0.378, 0.420 and 0,374 for CAL, PON and GAR respectively. The lower kinship distance (Dk) was observed within the Pontremolese breed (0.500 vs 0.530 in CAL and 0.557 in GAR), while the mean coancestry value (fij) and the inbreeding coefficient (F) were higher in PON than in the other breeds (0.278 vs 0.268 in CAL and 0.258 in GAR for fij; 0.667 vs 0.596 in CAL and 0.516 in GAR for F). Molecular data corroborate the evidence, supported by demographic information, that all the three breeds, and particularly the mopre genetically distant Pontremolese breed, have suffered a severe erosion of the genetic variability.