Individual Identification and Breed Allocation with Microsatellite Markers: An Evaluation in Indian Horses

The capability of microsatellite markers for individual identification and their potential for breed assignment of individuals was evaluated in two Indian horse breeds. The strength of these individual assignment methods was also evaluated by increasing the number of loci in increments of five. The probability of identity of two random horses from the two breeds at all twenty five studied loci was as low as $1.08{\times}10^{-32}$ showing their suitability to distinguish between individual horses and their products. In the phylogenetic approach for individual assignment using Nei's genetic distances, 10.81% of horses associated with breed other than the major cluster of the source breed horses when all twenty five microsatellite loci were implemented. Similar results were obtained when the maximum likelihood approach for individual assignment was used. Based on these results it is proposed that, although microsatellite markers may prove very useful for individual identification, their utility for breed assignment of horses needs further evaluation.