Hemoglobin polymorphism and its association with morphometric traits of indigenous sheep populations reared in different agroecological zones of Ethiopia

Abstract Analyzing blood protein polymorphisms helps in understanding population relationships, genetic structure, and their evolution. This study was conducted to assess hemoglobin polymorphisms and their association with morphometric traits of indigenous sheep population reared in the highland, lowland, and midland agroecological zones. Blood samples were collected from 198 sheep of both sexes, and hemoglobin types were determined by gel electrophoresis. Agroecological zone had a significant ( p < 0.05) effect on body weight and most other linear body measurements. The two hemoglobin variants, namely Hb A and Hb B , with frequencies of 0.30 and 0.70 in highland, 0.23 and 0.77 in midland, and 0.17 and 0.83 in lowland sheep populations, were observed, with the predominance of Hb B in all agroecological zones. The genetic distance at the hemoglobin locus between lowland and midland was estimated to be 0.004. Body length was significantly ( p < 0.05) affected by hemoglobin type, with the longest body being observed at Hb AB type. The studied sheep populations did not significantly deviate from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium ( p = 0.05). These findings provide baseline information that may contribute to future genetic characterization and may support further investigations into selection and the design of cost-effective and sustainable genetic improvement programs for indigenous sheep populations in the Sidama region.