Morphological characteristics of indigenous goats in the coastal savannah and forest eco-zones of Ghana

Abstract

A survey was carried out in two agro-ecological zones (coastal savannah and forest) of Ghana to describe the morphological characteristics of indigenous goat populations in those areas. Two districts each in the two zones were randomly selected and 15 villages with high concentrations of indigenous goats purposely selected from each of the districts. Information was collected on the visual appraisal of the indigenous goat types and their morphological description. The animals observed in the various households were put into homogenous classes according to their age based on dentition using the FAO breed descriptor guide which spelt out six age categories. The goats were also grouped according to their morphological characteristics. The distributions of the various traits were expressed in percentages and categorized according to sex and location. Apart from the qualitative traits, five (5) other morpho-biometrical characteristics or linear body measurements namely: body length, height at withers, horn length, tail length and ear length were taken on each animal in the morning before they were released for grazing. A total of 600 goats comprising 179 males and 421 females were observed during the survey. The result obtained from the study indicated that the highest percentage (28.3%) of indigenous goats sampled were less than 1 year old with those within the age range of 4-5 years being the least (9.7%). It was also observed that majority of the indigenous goats sampled were multi-coloured (35.0%) with colours ranging from white, brown, black and grey. The predominant hair type observed among the goats was the smooth type (64.5%) with the least hair type observed being curly (9.4%). It was observed that majority (75.5%) of the indigenous goats sampled were polled while 24.5% were horned. Again, it was realized that majority (72.6%) of the goat sampled had no wattles while 27.4% of them were wattled. The study also revealed that 17.4% of the indigenous goat populations were bearded while about 82.6% had no beard. There was a significant (P<0.05) age effects on linear body measurements. There was also a significant (P<0.05) sex and location effects with regard to body length and height at withers with the male goats being superior to the females