Muhammad Salih Al-Barzinj et al. Iranian Journal of Applied Animal Science (2016) 6(3), 671-678 671 Molecular Characterization of Iraqi Local Goat Breeds Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Markers INTRODUCTION More than 1153 of domestic goat breeds are listed in the Domestic Animal Diversity Network (DAD-IS) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2009). Moreover, more than 850 million goats exist in the world with more than 95% found in the developing countries (FAO, 2007). From this population, Asia has the highest share at 65.3%, followed by Africa with 29.2% and Central America with 1.3% (Oliver et al. 2005). Nevertheless, only 60% of the breeds are found in the developing countries (Scherf, 2000). Europe is the broadest in goat genetic resources (33%) with only of 4% of the world’s goat population (Galal, 2005). Approximately 31% of the goats are dairy goats in the developed countries compared with only 19% for the de- veloping world (Oliver et al. 2005). Therefore, worldwide, most goats are valued primarily for their meat. Some goats are raised not only for their meat or milk, but also for their hair. There are two types of goats raised for their hair, the Angora goat, and Cashmere goat. Maraz (Kurdi) goat is raised at high altitudes in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan and belong to the Cashmere bearing goat breeds. Undercoat fibers of this breed are ignored due to the unfamiliarity of the breeders with the importance of Cashmere and the pos- sibility of its processing (Mason, 1981). Identification and characterization of breeds are a must to identify the genetic Cashmere is only produced from Maraz (Kurdi) goat breed in Iraqi Kurdistan Region. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic diversity of different Maraz color types, black goat and Shami breeds using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Fourteen primers were used and nine out of them were selected based on their number of bands (NB) and polymorphic characteristics. These primers gener- ated a total of 154 bands ranged from 100 to 2800 bp. Out of the total bands detected only 50 bands were found to be polymorphic. Thirteen unique bands were found in Maraz goat, whereas the highest unique band was obtained in primer 7-MO2 locus. The overall Nei’s gene diversity (gene diversity/heterozygosity) averaged 0.40, while the Shannon diversity index value was 0.58 ranged from 0.45 to 0.69. Phylogenetic dendrograms showed that three clusters, the 1 st cluster branch consisted of the black goat breed, the 2 nd clus- ter includes Shami goat with both black and light brown Maraz goat. The 3 rd cluster includes both white and dark brown Maraz goats. Maraz color types grouped in one cluster that contains white and dark brown types and the black with light brown types were included in another cluster. It was concluded that the Maraz goat breed was closer to Shami goat than to the black goat breed. KEY WORDS black and shami goats, Cashmere, genetic diversity, maraz. Y. Muhammad Salih Al‐Barzinj¹ * , R. Asmat Oramari² and R. Abdulghany Al‐Sanjury³ 1 Department of Animal Resources, College of Agriculture, University of Salahaddin, Erbil, Iraq 2 Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Duhok, Duhok, Iraq 3 Department of Animal Science, College of Veterinary, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq Received on: 7 Jan 2016 Revised on: 22 Mar 2016 Accepted on: 1 Apr 2016 Online Published on: Sep 2016 *Correspondence E‐mail: yousif.noori@su.edu.krd © 2010 Copyright by Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch, Rasht, Iran Online version is available on: www.ijas.ir Research Article