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.
