Abstract
Phenotypic characterisation of indigenous goat populations is crucial in providing information on goat types and their attributes and may play an important role as guideline for conservation and sustainable us of these resources. The objective of this study was to characterise indigenous goat populations in rural areas of South Africa. Appearance of indigenous goat phenotypes and their typical features were observed from 297 individual goats. FREQ procedure of Statistical Analysis System was used to determine the descriptive statistics of the qualitative phenotypic variables. To detect the statistical differences for quantitative traits, the General Linear Model procedure of SAS was computed, whereas Fisher’s Least Significant Difference test was used to separate the least square means (P<0.05). Horns and toggles were the most dominant phenotypes found in the different regions, while the beard had low proportions across regions. Black coat colour was the dominant colour (9.68-69.57%) of most of the populations in Mopani, Vhembe, Tshwane, Westrand, Bojanala, Motheo and Thabo Mofutsanyane regions. There was a significant (P<0.05) difference in all phenotypic measurements, with higher (P<0.05) values for body length (48.23 cm), body weight (26.86 kg) and wither height (64.61 cm) observed in indigenous goats of Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati (DRSM) region. Goats in Tshwane, Westrand and DRSM had significantly similar body length whilst also those in Motheo, Thabo and Vhembe had significantly similar body length. The indigenous goats of Thabo Mofutsanyana region had the highest (P<0.05) value for rump length (17.52 cm), however have the shortest tail length (7.17 cm) compared to those at other regions. Results from the study shows considerable phenotypic heterogeneity in qualitative traits of indigenous goat population and their distributions in different regions.
Highlights
Indigenous goats in general are known to have the ability to survive and reproduce in harsh environmental conditions and on poor quality fibrous feeds
Horns and toggles were the most dominant phenotypes found in the different regions, while the beard phenotype observed in the current study had low proportions across regions
The study revealed a significant (P
Summary
Indigenous goats in general are known to have the ability to survive and reproduce in harsh environmental conditions and on poor quality fibrous feeds. Characterisation of livestock breeds based on their morphological traits variations (Mavule et al, 2016; Delgado et al, 2001) is the first step towards the use of the available Animal Genetic Resources (Kunene et al, 2006; Lanari et al, 2003). Phenotypic quantitative characteristics are measures of animal body parts (Belay and Meseretu, 2017; FAO, 2012; Pieters et al, 2009) and are more directly associated to production characteristics when. Phenotypes are an expression of genetic characteristics, modified by environmental conditions and variance in both genetics and environment may affect phenotypic variance (Kunene et al, 2014; Yakubu et al, 2010c; Riva et al, 2004)
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