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Highland pastoralism provides economic sustainability to the tribal livelihoods and is endemic to the yak-rearing tracts of India. Transhumant pastoralists of Arunachal Pradesh (in India) have centuries-old deep socio-religious and economic connections with this unique bovine species. As a result of their conservation efforts, Arunachali was recognized as the first and is still the lone breed (to date) of yaks in the country. A survey was conducted on the pastoral production system in the region to enable the phenotypic characterization of yaks and to understand the prevailing husbandry practices. Arunachali yaks are medium-sized bovines that are predominantly black with dense and long hairs hanging down the body and are docile in temperament. They have a convex head with horizontal ears and distinctly curved horns with pointed tips. The average milk yield is 0.98–1.04 kg milk/day with 7.45% fat and 11.5% SNF and the peak milk yield/day is 1.1–1.6 kg. The average ages of clipping of coarse hairs and down fibres are 12–18 months and 12 months, respectively, with average yields of 1.5 kg and 0.5 kg/clipping/animal, respectively. Value addition of yak milk and fibre presents a unique opportunity for the economic rejuvenation of yak pastoralism. However, winter feed scarcity, inbreeding, extreme climate events and the non-availability of essential services are still major challenges for yak production in the country. Our findings acknowledge that pastoral sustainability is critical for the conservation of yaks and yak rearing. This calls for pastoralism-centric governance and research efforts in the highlands to curb the declining population and to put Indian yaks on the road to sustainability. Full article

Arunachali yak, the only registered yak breed of India, is crucial for the economic sustainability of pastoralist Monpa community. This study intended to determine the genomic diversity and to identify signatures of selection in the breed. Previously available double digest restriction-site associated DNA (ddRAD) sequencing data of Arunachali yak animals was processed and 99,919 SNPs were considered for further analysis. The genomic diversity profiled based on nucleotide diversity, π (π = 0.041 in 200 bp windows), effective population size, Ne (Ne = 83) and Runs of homozygosity (ROH) (predominance of shorter length ROHs) was found to be optimum. Subsequently, 207 regions were identified to be under selective sweeps through de-correlated composite of multiple signals (DCMS) statistic which combined three individual test statistics viz. π, Tajima’s D and |iHS| in non-overlapping 100 kb windows. Mapping of these regions revealed 611 protein-coding genes including KIT, KITLG, CDH12, FGG, FGA, FGB, PDGFRA, PEAR1, STXBP3, olfactory receptor genes (OR5K3, OR5H6 and OR1E1) and taste receptor genes (TAS2R1, TAS2R3 and TAS2R4). Functional annotation highlighted that biological processes like platelet aggregation and sensory perception were the most overrepresented and the associated regions could be considered as breed-specific signatures of selection in Arunachali yak. These findings point towards evolutionary role of natural selection in environmental adaptation of Arunachali yak population and provide useful insights for pursuing genome-wide association studies in future. Full article