Phenotypic Characterization of Indigenous Goat Population Reared in Uba Debre- Tsehay and Zala Districts of Gofa Zone, South Ethiopia

Abstract

The objective of this study was to describe the morphological features of indigenous goats in twolowland districts of Gofa zone in their home tract, Ethiopia. A total of 170 goats (50 males and 120 females)were used for the morphological characterization. Results confirmed that there were morphological variationsin terms of coat color patterns. Accordingly, about 49.2% of goats showed plain followed by patchy (27.8); thedominant coat color was brown (44.7%) followed by white (32.7%). About 98.5% goats were characterized bypossessing horn, 80.5% curved horn-shape, 54.5% with obliquely-upward horn orientation, 75.2% horizontalear-orientation, 88.0% straight head-profile, 92.0% partially-sprit scrotum-type, 6% wattle presence, 38.0%beard and 2.5% ruff. There were no statistically significant morphological variations between males andfemales (p>0.05). These may be due to the high off-take rate of male goats at an early age. A significantdifference (p<0.05) was observed between age and linear body measurements. There were significantcorrelations found among body weight with body length (r=0.81), wither height (r=0.67), chest girth (r=0.82),head length (r=0.64) and horn length (r=0.61). Morphological traits’ variations suggest that this goatpopulation has not yet been selected through structured selective breeding.