Abstract. During 2003During -2005 abortion samples (315 fetuses and 84 placentae) were collected from 107 ovine and caprine farms in northern Sardinia. Tissues from aborted fetuses and placentae were examined by PCR assay to detect DNA from Coxiella burnetii, Chlamydophila abortus, Salmonella enterica Serovar abortusovis, Toxoplasma gondii, and Neospora caninum. The DNA from at least 1 of these 5 infectious agents was amplified in 41% of ovine fetuses, while only 17% of the caprine fetuses yielded a positive amplification result for at least 1 of the 5 agents. Out of a total of 366 ovine aborted samples, T. gondii DNA was detected most frequently (18.1% of fetuses and 13.1% of placentae), followed by S. abortusovis (13% of fetuses and 14.4% of placentae), C. burnetii (10.9% of fetuses, of 9.2% placentae), C. abortus (2.4% of fetuses, 6.5% of placentae), and N. caninum (2% of placentae). In 33 fetuses and 9 placentae, the simultaneous presence of pathogens with different associations was detected. Out of a total of 31 caprine aborted samples, T. gondii was detected most frequently (13% of fetuses and 25% of placentae), followed by C. abortus (12.5% of placentae), C. burnetii (12.5% of placentae), and N. caninum (8.6%).

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To provide useful knowledge on goat breed origin and history, we studied the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 69 goats from five different breeds, Camosciata delle Alpi, Maltese, Nubian, Saanen and Sarda, and one population, the Tunisian. All goats analysed displayed a moderate haplotype and nucleotide diversity. The highest was in the Sarda - the autochthonous breed reared in Sardinia. On the basis of mtDNA control region sequences, animals showed a high genetic haplotype diversity, 35 haplotypes were each represented by a single sequence and only a few haplotypes were shared among the animals. New haplotypes of goats reared in the Mediterranean area were identified and the majority of Italian goats belonged to haplogroup A. This result confirmed worldwide distribution and diversity of haplogroup A.

The aim of the study was to detect polymorphism in the POU1F1 gene in Sarda breed goat, as well as to establish if SNPs could be associated with milk productive traits. The research was conducted on 129 Sarda breed goats from 4 to 5 years old, multiparous, lactating and in their third to fifth lactation. We report nine exonic and seven non-coding regions SNPs within the Sarda goat POU1F1 gene, namely, Ex 1 61 G>C; Ex 1 108 G>A; Ex 3 C>T; Ex 3 92 C>T; Ex 4 110 A>G; Ex 5 34 G>A resulting in Arg213Lys change; IVS4 641 G>A, IVS4 643 A>C, IVS4 659 G>A, IVS4 677 A>C, IVS4 G699Del, IVS4 709 C>G, Ex 6 17 G>A resulting in Arg228Ser change, Ex 6 58 G>T, Ex 6 172 T>C, 3'UTR 110 T>C. A statistically significant association was found between genotype TT, in position 17 of the exon 6 (3.1 % of frequency), and increased milk yield (P < 0.01) while genotype GT (25.6 % of frequency) was associated with a higher fat content. Genotype TT in position 58 of the exon 6 (3.9 % of frequency) was found to be associated with a higher fat (P < 0.01) and protein content (P < 0.05). Twenty-eight haplotypes were detected, but no significant association between the haplotypes and the milk production traits have been found. Our data, as well as providing new SNPs extending the POU1F1 gene characterization, evidence a relationship between polymorphism and milk production traits in Sarda goat breed.