a b s t r a c tA total of 6440 female sheep from Burkina Faso were scored for seven body measurements and four qualitative morphological traits. Sampling included the three main environmental areas and sheep breeds of Burkina Faso: the Sahel area (Burkina-Sahel sheep), the SudanSahel area (Mossi sheep) and the Sudan area (Djallonké sheep). Canonical analyses showed that differences in body measurements between the Sudan and the Sudan-Sahel sheep were small even though most body traits showed higher average values in the Burkina-Sahel sheep: the shortest Mahalanobis distance was found between the Sudan and the SudanSahel populations (1.54), whilst that between the Sudan and the Sahelian populations was the largest (7.88). Discriminant analysis showed that most Sudan (Djallonké) individuals (60.85%) were classified as Sudan-Sahel (Mossi) individuals whilst most Burkina-Sahel individuals were classified into their environmental area of sampling (89.46%). Correspondence analyses indicated that the Burkina-Sahel sheep population clustered together with dropping ears, black and brown colour patterns and presence of wattles, the Sudan sheep were closely associated with long hair and vertical and curled ears and that the Sudan-Sahel sheep did not have clear associations with qualitative phenotypic traits. At the morphological level, the Sudan-Sahel (Mossi) sheep population can be considered a geographical subpopulation belonging to the Djallonké breed, showing some particularities, namely larger body size, due to the particular environmental condition of the area in which it is managed and a continuous gene flow from Sahelian sheep, The information reported in this study will be the basis for the establishment of further characterization, conservation and selection strategies for Burkina Faso sheep.

A total of 10,147 female goats from Burkina Faso were scored for 7 body measures and 12 qualitative traits. Sampling included the three main environmental areas and goat breeds of Burkina Faso: the Sahel area (Sahelian goat), the Sudan-Sahel area (Mossi goat) and the Sudan area (Djallonké goat). Overall, the Sahelian goat had the highest values for the all the analysed body measures. Differences between the Sudan and the Sudan-Sahel goat were little. The Burkina Faso goat is mainly spotted (61.92 %) with horns type "Spanish Ibex" (84.05 %), frequent absence of beard (75.33 %) and wattles (70.92 %) and poorly developed udder (73.72 %). The Sahelian population included most individuals with dropping (95.60 %) and curled (73.62 %) ears, whilst most Sudan-Sahel individuals had horizontal ears (73.14 %) and most Sudan individuals had vertical ears (97.88 %). The largest Mahalanobis distance was found between the Sahelian and Sudan areas (7.50) whilst the Sudan and the Sudan-Sahel populations were poorly differentiated (1.15). Discriminant analysis showed that most Sahel and Sudan-Sahel individuals were classified into their source population (79.29 % and 82.69 %) whilst the Sudan individuals (93.40 %) were classified as Sudan-Sahel individuals. Both the canonical and the correspondence analyses showed that the Sahelian and Sudan individuals tended to cluster separately whilst the Sudan-Sahel individuals showed an intermediate distribution but clearly biased toward the Sudan individuals. The Sudan-Sahel (Mossi) population can be considered a result from the genetic contact between Sahelians and Sudan goats Keywords: Djallonké goat, Mossi goat, Sahel goat, Africa, local breed, morphological traits, genetic resources ZusammenfassungTitel der Arbeit: Multivariate Analyse von morphologischen Merkmalen der Burkina-Faso-Ziege An insgesamt 10.147 weiblichen Ziegen aus Burkina Faso wurden 7 Körpermaße und 12 qualitative Merkmale bewertet. Die Probennahme wurde in den drei Haupthabitaten an den wichtigsten Ziegenrassen von Burkina Faso durchgeführt: Sahelzone (Sahel-Ziege), Sudan-Sahelzone (Mossi-Ziege) und Sudangebiet (Djallonké-Ziege). Insgesamt erreichte die Sahel-Ziege die höchsten Werte bei allen untersuchten Körpermaßen. Die Unterschiede zwischen der Sudan-Ziege und der Sudan-Sahel-Ziege waren gering. Die Burkina-Faso-Ziege ist überwiegend gefleckt (61.92 %), mit Hörnern vom Typ "Spanish Ibex" (84.05 %), häufig bartlos (75.33 %) und ohne Kehllappen (70.92 %) sowie unzureichend entwickeltem Euter (73.72 %). Die meisten der Individuen der Sahel-Population wiesen hängende (95.60 %) und gekrauste Ohren (73.62 %) auf, während die meisten der Individuen aus der Sudan-Sahel-Zone waagerechte Ohren (73.14 %) und die Mehrheit der Individuen aus dem Sudangebiet aufrecht stehende Ohren (97.88 %) hatten. Die größte Mahalanobis-Distanz wurden zwischen den Sahel-und Sudangebieten gefunden (7,50), während sich die Sudan-und Sudan-Sahel-Populationen nur geringfügig voneinander unterschieden (1,15). Diskriminanzanalysen zeigten, d...

Assessing how genes flow across populations is a key component of conservation genetics. Gene flow in a natural population depends on ecological traits and the local environment, whereas for a livestock population, gene flow is driven by human activities. Spatial organization, relationships between farmers and their husbandry practices will define the farmer's network and so determine farmer connectivity. It is thus assumed that farmer connectivity will affect the genetic structure of their livestock. To test this hypothesis, goats reared by four different ethnic groups in a Vietnamese province were genotyped using 16 microsatellites. A Bayesian approach and spatial multivariate analysis (spatial principal component analysis, sPCA) were used to identify subpopulations and spatial organization. Ethnic group frequencies, husbandry practices and altitude were used to create cost maps that were implemented in a least-cost path approach. Genetic diversity in the Vietnamese goat population was low (0.508) compared to other local Asian breeds. Using a Bayesian approach, three clusters were identified. sPCA confirmed these three clusters and also that the genetic structure showed a significant spatial pattern. The least-cost path analysis showed that genetic differentiation was significantly correlated (0.131-0.207) to ethnic frequencies and husbandry practices. In brief, the spatial pattern observed in the goat population was the result of complex gene flow governed by the spatial distribution of ethnic groups, ethnicity and husbandry practices. In this study, we clearly linked the livestock genetic pattern to farmer connectivity and showed the importance of taking into account spatial information in genetic studies.