PHENOTYPIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BODY WEIGHT AND MORPHOMETRIC TRAITS OF GOATS IN KANO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Morphometric traits are of great importance in the estimation of productivity and assessment of goat populations. Therefore, the study was conducted to identify the morphometric parameters and their relationship with body weight (BW) of goats in Kano State, Nigeria. A total of 374 goats were used for the study which consisted of four breeds (Red Sokoto, Kano Brown, Sahelian and West Africa Dwarf). The BW was measured in kilograms using a weighing scale and morphometric parameters such as BL, HC, TL, HH, HG, NL, EL, HL, WH, CL, CD, FL, GC, and GL using a measuring tape. The result of Pearson’s correlation analysis for all the variables measured showed that relationship between BW and all the morphometric measurements were positive and significant (P<0.01%), indicating that the selection for BW might yield a corresponding positive result in other morphometric traits. The ‘r’ value ranges from low (0.11) to high (0.91) for BW/HC and BW/HG respectively. It is recommended that morphometric characteristics should be used to generate reliable information for goat discrimination.