Camels of Sudan:

The main objective of the present work was to describe the conditions of camel production systems in Sudan and identify the breeding goals, husbandry practices and production constraints. A second objective was to characterize and describe some of the Sudanese camel ecotypes on the basis of their morphological traits and re-grade these camel breeds according to their phenotypic characteristics. The work also aimed at sequencing the growth hormone (GH) gene in the Sudanese camel breeds searching for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs); that contributes to the phenotypic characterization of the multitude of camel ecotypes in Sudan. In addition the study directed towards detecting the allelic variants of tyrosinase (TYR) gene (Exon 1) in some Sudanese camel breeds. This information on production systems, phenotypic and molecular characterization can be utilize to suggest camel genetic improvement, design of camel breed conservation program and also use as a genetic marker in different genetic studies. Finally, the research proposes a new classification system of camel breeds in Sudan and provides some suggestions for genetic improvement of Sudanese camels.