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Nineteen microsatellite markers were used to investigate the genetic diversity, phylogenetic
relationships and herd structure of Ugandan Ankole cattle. A total of 304 animals from 8 herds in
Mbarara District were characterised. Across all loci, 200 alleles were observed. A high mean
number of alleles (MNA) per locus, ranging from 5.89 to 6.79 per herd, was observed. Polymorphic
information content (PIC) ranged from 0.403 (ILSTS013) to 0.817 (ILSTS036), with an overall
mean of 0.688. The average observed heterozygosity (Ho) was highest in Kaibanda (0.727) and
lowest in Kituuha (0.648), while the expected heterozygosity (He) ranged from 0.722 (Nshaara)
to 0.664 (Kituuha). Significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg proportions were observed on 8
loci, however, all 152 loci-herd combination tests were in equilibrium after Bonferroni correction.
FST estimates for all loci and between all herds were highly significant (P
