RESUMEN
This study was on the molecular characterization of Harnai sheep breed in Balochistan. A set of (n=16) ovine specific SSR markers, recommended by FAO, was used on (n=50) blood samples from unrelated animals of Harnai sheep breed from their breeding tract. Various genetic parameters were observed using Pop gene software. A total of 74 alleles were found on 13 loci. The finding values for observed number of alleles (Na), effective number of alleles (Ne) and Shannon’s Information index (I) the average values were found along with standard deviation to be 2.448±0.869, 1.7050.604 and 0.5890.357 respectively, further more, the mean values of observed heterozygosity (Obs_Het) expected homozygosity (Exp._Hom), expected heterozygosity (Exp_Het), effective number of allele (Ne) average Heterozygosity (Ave Het) were found to be 0.598±0.299, 0.366±0.284, 0.602±0.238, 0.363±0.219, 0.347±0.209 and 0.347±0.209, respectively. The value of F-statistic ranged from 0.2851 to 0.9132 for different microsatellite markers with an average of 0.515±0.021. Majority of the markers showed higher than average expected reduction in heterozygosity. The standard errors were generally low, which indicated that homozygosity prevails in the population under study. This might be due to intense inbreeding in this flock of Harnai sheep.