GENETIC VARIATION IN RESISTANCE TO CAPRINE FOOT ROT BY Dichelobacter nodosus IN GOATS OF KERALA, INDIA

Foot rot is a highly contagious and economically important disease of sheep and goats, caused predominantly by Dichelobacter nodosus. The current investigation was intended to analyse the genetic variation for resistance to caprine foot rot among two purebred native breeds of goats(Malabari and Attappady Black) and crossbred (Malabari crosses with Sannen, Alpine and Boer) goats in Kerala state, India. The cases were identified by observing characteristic symptoms of foot rot in goats, detecting Gram negative large rods from the hoof lesions and by PCR to detect the 783bp amplicon from the 16sRNA gene of D. nodosus. Two hundred and four animals were subjected to the study and statistical analysis of the data generated could substantiate that, there is variation in caprine foot rot resistance among genetic groups studied (p≤0.01) with significantly lower incidence rates in Malabari (14.29%) and Attappady Black (2.29%) compared to the crossbreds (43.75%).