Polymorphism of growth hormone gene in three goat breeds in Egypt

Background In Egypt, like other developing countries, goats are prime resources of meat. So, selection of goats for superior growth rate is advantageous. Growth hormone (GH) is the main regulator of animal growth, and encoded by GH gene that exhibits active gene variants improving growth. The objective of this study was to identify GH gene variants in three goat breeds (Barki, Damascus, and Zaraibi), via polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP) and gene sequencing analyses.