Ravimurugan, T.TANUVAS2018-07-252018-07-252015-10http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810061964TNV_IJSR_2015_21(2)200-203Genetic diversity of Madras Red sheep was investigated by microsatellite markers recommended by FAO.All the loci studied were highly informative and polymorphic. The number of observed alleles ( ) detected ranged from 3 to14, with an overall mean of 7.00±2.81. The mean effective number of alleles was ( ) 4.42±2.12. The overall means for observed ( ) and expected ( ) heterozygosity were 0.65±0.25 and 0.73±0.16, respectively. The mean polymorphism information content (PIC) value was 0.6704 which ranged from 0.2170 to 0.8215. The within breed estimate ( ) indicated heterozygosity shortage of 0.07. The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) test revealed that 76% (19/25)) loci deviated from equilibrium. Shannon's information index (I) was sufficiently high with a mean of 1.5578. The study revealed that even a breed with significant level of genetic variation needs proper genetic management for improvement and conservation.enVeterinary ScienceArticle