PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZSTION OF INDIGENOUS GOAT IN AFIKPO SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA BONYI STATE

Abstract

The current state of knowledge on the characterization of farm animal generic resources in Nigeria shows that there is still lack of information about the production characters of local breeds. Therefore, this study was conducted to characterize goat phenotype and asses the popularity of indigenous goat in Edda, Afikpo South Local Government Area (LGA) in Ebonyi State. A total of eight morphometric linear measurements were obtained using tailor’s tape. These included chest girth (cg), body length
(BL), wither height (WH), rump height (RH), rump length (RL), rump width (RW), pelvic width (PW), thoracic depth (TD) The objective of this study was to characterize the phenotypes of indigenous West African Dwarf goat in Edda, Ebony state The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics The result of the study showed a high significantly (P<0.0001) positive correlation among the morphological traits in WAD doe. The correlation ranged between 0.68 and 0. 99 with the highest
correlation of 1found between RH and BH. There is also a high significantly (P<0.0001) positive correlation among the morphological traits of WAD Buck. Between sexes there was no significant difference at 0.05 level of significance was observed.