Breeding practices and selection criteria on livestock farming in the Drâa-Tafilalet region of Morocco

Abstract

This study aimed to identify breeding practices and selection criteria used by livestock breeders in the Drâa-Tafilalet region in southeastern Morocco. Five sites in the region with three to five rural districts each were selected, within each district, one to eight breeders of each livestock species were interviewed. There were 305 surveys conducted in 21 districts with 60, 105, 71, 21, 35 and 13 breeders of cattle, sheep, goats, camels, chickens and rabbits, respectively. Frequencies were calculated to describe breeding practices and index values were used to examine selection criteria employed by breeders. A total of 74.6% of cattle breeders used natural mating, 16.9% used artificial insemination, and 8.47% used both. However, for other livestock species, natural mating was the only method of mating. In cattle, sheep, goats, camels, chickens and rabbits, the proportion of breeding males from the breeder's own herd was 12.8%, 73.1%, 86.1%, 56.1%, 81.6% and 92.3%, respectively. Breeders who practiced the selection of breeding animals were 74.6%, while the rest used random selection. In the former group, 73.9% selected both males and females, 4.26% selected only males and 21.8% selected only females. In selecting breeding animals, body size ranked first for cattle, sheep, goat, camel, chicken, and rabbit breeders with indices of 0.37, 0.41, 0.43, 0.43, 0.47 and 0.50, respectively for males, and 0.33, 0.34, 0.41, 0.41, 0.44 and 0.50, respectively for females. It was concluded that breeders' existing breeding practices and selection criteria should be considered in order to minimize the failure of genetic improvement programs in livestock production.