Phenotypic characterization of indigenous Maefur goat population in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in Erob district eastern Tigray, Ethiopia to phenotypic characterize Maefur goat based on physical body feature and linear body measurements. Six hundred (297 male and 303 female) goats were randomly selected and grouped into four age groups of 0, 1, 2 and ≥3 PPI. General Linear Model (GLM) procedure of SPSS version 16.0 and descriptive statistical analysis were were used to summarize the collected data. Short ear size (12.3 cm for male and 11.8 cm for female), long and thick horn, medium body size (42.8 kg for male and 32.7 kg for female), and large heart girth (82.1 cm for male and 73.4 cm for female) are the major body characteristics of Maefur goat breed. There was a significant (P< 0.05) effect of sex and age on live body weight and linear measurements. Mean± SE of live body weight, heart girth, body length and height at wither in male were 34.7±0.57 kg, 75.3±0.53 cm, 64.3±0.61 cm and 64.7±0.46 cm, respectively while in female 28.9±0.35 kg, 70.0±0.33 cm, 60.0±0.40 cm, and 59.3±0.31 cm, respectively. For heart girth in these age groups were 61.1±0.53, 69.4±0.33, 70.6±0.4 and 77.7±0.39 cm, respectively while body length were 50.3±0.43, 56.8±0.42, 59.3±0.58 and 68.2±0.42 cm, respectively. For height at wither in these age groups were 54.0±0.45, 59.1±0.35, 58.4±0.32 and 66.5±0.40 cm, respectively. Heart girth and height at wither were significantly (P<0.05) different among the age groups except between 13-18 and 19-24 months. The study revealed that large heart girth is a unique characteristic of the Maefur indigenous goat. The study concluded that Maefur goat breed is identified as one of the potential goat breed in Tigray, Ethiopia.

Exploratory Study on Relationship among Body Weight, Body Condition Score and Some Blood Biochemical Parameters of Non-Descriptive Goats in Mzimvubu Local Municipality: A Case of Santombe Village

“…The findings from this study shows a positive correlation (r = 0.400; P < 0.05) between TP and BW. This differs from the findings of [37], who reported that change in protein levels had no effect on Body weight of Badali kids. Cholesterol is an energy source in all living organisms.…”

“…Similar findings were reported by [36], from research with the indigenous Maefur goats in Ethiopia, where males were found to be heavier than female goats (42.8 ± 6.6 kg versus 37.2 ± 4.1 kg). [37] also had similar findings from research with the South African indigenous goat where 8 tooth male goats weighed 37.7 ± 7.17 kg whilst females of the same age weighed 31.4 ± 5.87 kg. There are challenges in communal farming set up, one of these is unavailability of weighing scales which assist in marketing live animals as well as selection for breeding purpose [38].…”

Phenotypic Characterization of Goat Ecotypes in Northwestern Tunisia

“…We noted that 80.28% of the population of northwestern Tunisia is horny. Several authors have also reported that the majority of animals are horny (Castanheira et al (2010) but the results of our study contradict other previous studies (Weldeyesus & Rohatash, 2017;Manallah, 2012) in different regions of Algeria. Among the 80.28% of horned individuals in our study population, 62.87% had horns with curved shapes.…”

Defining smallholders' breeding objectives for common Tigray highland sheep in Northern Ethiopia

“…The economic/production traits (Table 2.) that influence the profitability of sheep farming in the study areas were collected from previous studies (Zelealem & Anal, 2014; Gizaw et al, 2016; Weldeyesus & Yayneshet, 2016; Welday et al, 2019).…”