Phenotypic Characterization of Indigenous Goats in South Gondar Zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

This study was conducted in South Gondar zone, Amhara regional state, Ethiopia with the objective of phenotypic characterization of indigenous goat population in South Gondar zone. The study was conducted based on visual observation and field measurements. The zone was stratified into highland, midland and lowland agro-ecology and then selected one district from each agro-ecology. Data for visual observation and body measurements were collected from a total of 603 goats (201 per agro-ecology) of both sexes which has one and above pair of permanent incisor (PPI). Observations on qualitative trait were analyzed by using frequency procedure of SPSS version 20 for male and female goat separately. Whereas, body weight and other linear body measurements were analyzed using the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) procedure of SAS Ver.9.3 (2014). Correlation between body weight and other linear body measurements as well as REG procedure to regress body weight from linear body measurement for male and female goats were computed by SAS Ver.9.3 (2014). Most qualitative traits observed in the study area were significantly different and the most dominant coat color pattern was plain in all agro-ecology. White with red was the most frequent observed coat color type in the population. Whereas, white was the most frequent observed coat color in lowland agro-ecology of the zone. Agro-ecology and age group had highly significant (p<0.01) effect on body weight and most of linear body measurements except horn length, rump length, cannon bone length and head length for agro-ecology. Sex of goats had significant effect (p<0.05) on body weight and most of the body measurements except ear length, canon bone length, head length, and rump length. Most quantitative traits showed significantly higher average values in the lowland, than the rest two (highland and midland) agro-ecologies and most quantitative trait of goat population for male were significantly higher than the female one. Body weight was significantly correlated with all continuous traits of both male and female goats but higher in heart girth. As a result, the stepwise regressions revealed that heart girth was the most important variable in the prediction of live body weight. Generally the difference and similarities of indigenous goat in morphometric trait and adaptability should be supported by further study on characterization at molecular level under their production environments.