Study for identification FecXI and FecXH mutations in Tunisian Barbarine sheep

A total of 334 ewes recorded with twining births from the Tunisian fat tail Barbarine sheep were genotyped in the objective to identify the FecXI and FecXH mutations. The genotyping was carried out by forced restriction fragment length polymorphism PCR (RFLP-PCR). None of mutations was detected in Barbarine sheep. Results showed that all analyzed ewes were homozygous non carriers. These results suggest that fecundity of this breed is not linked to the same mutations. Therefore, it is necessary to seek for other mutations or fecundity genes in order to develop marker assistance selection techniques and study the prolific mechanism of the Barbarine breed.