Production Systems and Breeding Practices of Arab and Oromo Goat Keepers in Benishangul Gumuz Region, Northwestern Ethiopia: Implications for the Development of Community-based Breeding Programs

Abstract

To better understand and describe the production systems and breeding practices of Arab and Oromo goat keepers, we undertook a household survey in semi-arid and sub-humid parts of Benishangul Gumuz region, Northwestern Ethiopia. Multi-stage random and probability proportional to size sampling techniques were employed to select peasant associations and households, respectively.Data were collected from 249 goat keeping households (86 in semi-arid and 163 in sub-humid areas) through personal observations, focus group discussions and structured questionnaires, and analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics and indices were used to present the data. In both areas, goats were kept mainly to generate cash income followed by meat production and saving with overall indices of 0.40, 0.23 and 0.17, respectively. The average ± SD of flock sizes per households were 12.5 ± 4.0 in Arab goat keepers and 9.9 ± 3.8 in Oromo. The mean numbers of does, doe kids, bucks, kids and castrates were significantly higher in Arab goat keepers as compared to Oromo. Body size, twining ability and coat color were the most preferred attributes of both goat keepers in selecting breeding does while breeding bucks were selected based on their body conformation, growth and coat color. Mating was predominantly uncontrolled mainly due to communal grazing lands. Castration of bucks was significantly (p < 0.01) more frequent in Arab goat keepers than Oromo. The average age at first kidding, kidding interval, reproductive lifetime and number of kids born per lifetime of Arab does were 13.9 ± 1.7 months, 7.2 ± 1.8 months, 7.2 ± 2.0 years and 10.7 ± 2.5, respectively. The corresponding values for Oromo does were 14.9 ± 2.4 months, 7.8 ± 1.1 months, 7.9 ± 1.9 years and 9.7 ± 1.6. The difference between Arab and Oromo goat keepers in terms of production objectives, flock sizes, trait preferences and breeding practices should be carefully considered in the development of breed improvement programs in the study areas. Keywords: Arab goat, Breeding practice, Oromo goat, Production system, Traits DOI : 10.7176/ALST/73-03 Publication date : April 30 th 2019