Spatial variation on phenotypic variants of fiber production lama herds from Northern Jujuy Province, Argentine

Abstract

In the north of the Province of Jujuy (Argentina), the lama population retains a great variability of its ethnozootechnical characteristics. Based on the scheme on the evolution of post-domestication populations, it has been stated that this variability determines a generalized situation of primariness, although there is an incipient standardization process. The objective was to choose the phenotypic variants (VFe) of the ethnozootechnical characters that explained the standardization process in preliminary work and to carry out a geostatistical analysis that allow to understand the spatial variation in the population of domestic camelids (llamas) to be studied. Georeferenced information from 85 troops from the North of the Province of Jujuy carried out between 1991 and 2008 was used. The chosen VFe were full fleece cover morphotype, white spotting design, absent/present staple raw pigmentation, luster staple types, using the respective FRe (%) calculated by herd. The greater presence of animals with VFe, that is, higher FRe, are indicators of selection and standardization. A geostatistical analysis consisted of the transformation of the geographic coordinates was carried out, obtaining an empirical semivariogram, evaluating the degree of spatial structuring and adjusting different semivariogram models and using kriging interpolation, obtaining a spatial variability map (MVs) for each phenotypic variant. Geostatistical analysis was performed from the exponential model which presented the best and highest values of spatial structuring. The MVs of these VFe showed an important spatial variation indicating an important generalized primariness with low values of FRe and on the other hand they confirm the existence of a well-defined area in the central and upper zone (Cieneguillas) with high values of FRe and a process of standardization. Through the geostatistical analysis, the spatial variation presented by the studied lama herds could efficiently and clearly be observed.