Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Agriculture - Department of Animal Production

This thesis includes three studies to characterize, evaluate and invisitgate originality of local rabbit genetic resources in Egypt by using genetic markers.In the 1ststudy, 19 microsatellite loci were used to identify the genetic diversity for 3 Egyptian and one Spanish local rabbit breeds. Egyptian breeds were Egyptian Red Baladi (ERB), Egyptian Black Baladi (EBB) and Egyptian Gabali Sinai (EGS), while Spanish rabbits belong to a local domestic variety (Spanish Common rabbit, SCR) used in backyard raising. The previous breeds were compared with European Wild rabbits (EWR). This study indicated that lower genetic diversity exists in ERB, EBB and SCR than EGS and EWR. Results also suggested that ERB and EBB belong to one breed. The phylogenetic analysis confirmed that there is separation between domestic rabbit breeds and wild rabbit or recently domesticated in this study. The objective of the 2nd study was to identify the genetic diversity of different populations of native Middle-Egypt rabbit (NMER) in North Upper Egypt province by using microsatellite polymorphism. Nineteen microsatellite loci were used in the study and an area of 231 km was surveyed, as native rabbits covered 14 points belonging to four Northern Upper Egypt governorates (South Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef and Menya). Among NMER populations, Menya population gave the highest diversity. In contrast, South Giza population showed the lowest. Analysis results showed 2 main NMER rabbit groups: the Northern group (South Giza and Fayoum) and the Southern group (Beni Suef and Minya). This study provides an overview of genetic diversity of NMER populations in the Northern Upper Egypt province for to designate priorities for conservation of NMER

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