Mr Mokhethi M. SelepeLecturer – Department of Agriculture

Position : Lecturer

Telephone : 035 902 6295

Email : SelepeM@unizulu.ac.za

Office : Park-home, Department of Agriculture, KwaDlangezwa Campus

Biography: Mr Mokhethi M. Selepe is an Animal Science lecturer at the University of Zululand (UNIZULU), Department of Agriculture. Mr Selepe holds both MSc. Agriculture (Animal Science) and BSc Agriculture (Animal Science) from UNIZULU. He is currently pursuing PhD. Agriculture (Animal Science) at UNIZULU. His PhD project is focused on “Application of genomics tools to infer on adaptation, growth, milk, fertility traits and pedigree assignment for parentage assignment and sibship clustering through the Kaonafatso ya Dikgomo in South Africa”. Mr Selepe’s research interest is in animal molecular genetics with the aim of conserving indigenous animal breeds. Currently, Mr Selepe is in collaboration with the University of Perugia (Italy). The collaboration is exploring the genetics of adaptation and resilience of indigenous beef cattle in South Africa and Italy to face emerging diseases, adaptation, and resilience to climate change. Lecture’s the following modules:

4AAS 211 (Introduction to Animal Science)
4AAS 321 (Animal Breeding)
4AAS 432 (Applied Animal Science)
4AAS 441 & 442 (Animal Science Research Project)

Student consultation times

Days of the week	Time	Venue
Monday	10:00 – 12:00	Agriculture Parkhome Office 6
Wednesday	11:00 – 13:00	Agriculture Parkhome Office 6
Friday	13:00 – 14:30	Agriculture Parkhome Office 6
Other consultations	On appointment	Agriculture Parkhome Office 6

Qualifications:

BSC Agriculture (Animal Science)
Msc Agriculture (Animal Science) Cum Laude

Project tittle: Genetic variation among Zulu sheep sub-populations of South Africa assessed by Microsatellites and Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)

Research interest:

Mr Selepe’s research interest lies in the field of Animal Breeding and Genetics (Animal Molecular Genetics).

Objectives

To obtain genetic information (genetic structure) that will serve as a guideline for management and breeding strategies (reducing inbreeding and crossbreeding) for better utilization and conservation of indigenous animals.
To apply molecular marker (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) to study the genes involved in productive, fertility and adaptive traits of indigenous animals.

Publications

Mokhethi M. Selepe, Simone Ceccobelli, Emiliano Lasagna, Nokuthula W. Kunene (2018). Genetic structure of South African Nguni (Zulu) sheep populations reveals admixture with exotic breeds. PLoS ONE 13(4). IF = 3.752

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0196276

Conference proceedings:

Oral Presentation

Origin and genetic diversity of Zulu sheep assessed by Mitochondrial DNA D-Loop sequence, 51st South African Society for Animal Science (SASAS) Congress in Bloemfontein, University of the Free State. June 10-12, 2019.
An overview on the genetic diversity in South African Nguni (Zulu) sheep, 22nd Animal Science and Production Association (ASPA) congress in Perugia, Italy. June 13-16, 2017.