Abstract
This study evaluated the usefulness of morphological characteristics to distinguish two important indigenous goat breeds in Nigeria. Fifteen morphometric traits were measured on West African Dwarf – WAD (n = 160) and Red Sokoto – RS (n = 142) goats that ranged in age of up to 19 months and were reared extensively in villages in southern and northern Nigeria. Univariate analysis revealed that the body measures of RS goats were significantly higher than those of WAD goats. Canonical discriminant analysis gave better resolution, as only seven external morphological characteristics of strong discriminating power were extracted. The most discriminant variable between the two goat populations was rump height, followed in order by body length, horn length, face length, chest girth, neck circumference and head width. The discriminant function obtained correctly classified 100% of individuals from the sample of known goat populations. The classification accuracy of the function was cross-validated using the split-sample method, and indicated a 99.7% success rate (99.4% of WAD goats and 100% of RS goats were correctly assigned to their source genetic group). This study indicates that a discriminant tool may be used successfully in the field to separate WAD and RS goats. The present results could be complemented by molecular characterization using DNA markers for better management and conservation strategies of genetic resources for indigenous goats.
Highlights
In Nigeria goats represent a veritable resource for economic development and livelihood security in addition to major cultural importance
While the West African Dwarf (WAD) goats were selected in certain villages located in Oyo State, south-western Nigeria, the Red Sokoto (RS) goats were sampled in villages around Sokoto, Kaduna and Kano States in the northern part of the country
The relatively high number of females could be attributed to the fact that they are normally retained in the breeding flock by farmers for reproduction while the males are more frequently put up for sale
Summary
In Nigeria goats represent a veritable resource for economic development and livelihood security in addition to major cultural importance. Red Sokoto (RS) and West African Dwarf (WAD) goats are the two most important goat breeds found in the country. They are kept as a source of food and investment. While RS are more adaptable to the climatic conditions of northern Nigeria, WAD are trypanotolerant (Hoste et al, 1988) and able to inhabit the trypano-endemic humid zones of southern Nigeria Both breeds are meat breeds, the skin of RS goats is reputed to be of high quality and used in the leather industry locally and internationally (Akpa et al, 1998)
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