Phenotypic Characterization of Various Goats Gene Pool (Capra hircus) in Oriental Mindoro

Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques

2019, Special Issue on Environment, Management and Economy, Pages: 1185-1190

J. Environ. Treat. Tech.

ISSN: 2309-1185

Journal web link: http://www.jett.dormaj.com

Phenotypic Characterization of Various Goats

Gene Pool (Capra hircus) in Oriental Mindoro

Rosalie D. Malvaz *

¹Naujan Municipal High School Bacungan Extension, DepEd Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

Agriculture and Allied Fields, Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology, Philippines

Received: 13/09/2019

Accepted: 22/11/2019

Published: 20/12/2019

Abstract

This study aims to phenotypically characterize Philippine Native, Upgraded, Anglo Nubian, Boer, and Saanen goats. A total of

18 goats from 14 goat semi-intensive farms were used. Qualitative data were analysed using descriptive analysis while quantitative

traits using Scheffe’s test. Results showed variations in the phenotypic characteristics of a goat gene pool. Saanen had longer body

length significantly, and higher wither height. Saanen and Boer goats appeared to have higher heart girth. Saanen and Anglo Nubian

has significantly higher testicle circumference and tail length. Boer, Anglo Nubian, Upgraded, and Philippine Native goats have

predominantly mixed color while Saanen goats have solid coat color. The nose bridge width and ear length (EL) of Anglo Nubian

goats were significantly denser and longer. The EL of bucks were significantly longer than the EL of does. More than half of the

Anglo Nubian, Upgraded, and Philippine Native, Boer and Saanen buck have horn while the majority of the does are dehorned.

Regardless of sex, majority of the Boer and Upgraded goats have droopy ears while more than half of the Anglo Nubian goats have

long droopy ears. All Saanen and Philippine Native goats have erect ears. Findings can serve as a basis for the establishment of

further goat characterization, conservation, improvement and specific trait selection strategies for future breeding programs.

Keywords: Philippine Native goat, Anglo Nubian, Saanen, Upgraded goat, Boer

provinces research guide in goat breeding and genetic

attributes.

Introduction

Identification, characterization and documentation of goat

Mindoro is the top goat producing area in the region,

however, data are insufficient in the phenotypic

characterization of goat breeds in the province. Phenotypic

traits are important economically (14); which pose a bigger

challenge for scientific researches on the identification of the

local breed.

breeds are important for any type of development or

improvement of breed. Without such documentation, it

would be difficult to know the animals and their potential

Kassahun (8). Appropriate design of breeding program is

impossible for breeds/types that have not been adequately

characterized either phenotypically or genetically Mwacharo

Phenotypic characterization of different goat breeds in

Oriental Mindoro is considered one of the primary

requirements in the establishment of selection and breeding

program. This study aimed to phenotypically distinguish and

compare the difference of various goat breeds available in

Oriental Mindoro. Regardless of production systems, goats

were described according to coat color and markings, face

profile and body measurements such as body lengths, wither

height, heart girth, testicle circumference and tail length.

Although weight is an important factor in selection,

knowledge of the phenotype essential to growth trait (i.e.

BL, WH, HG) is utmost importance in selection hence body

measurement was part of the data gathered.

(

10). Phenotypic characterizations are important in breed

identification and classification.

Moreover, no morphological characterization of local

genetic plays a very vital role in classification (i,e. size and

shape) of animals which can be of great economic indicator

(

11). Counterpart is improved utilization and conservation of

goat genetic resources. The economic values for different

quantitative characteristics, implies that genetic and

phenotypic improvement of these traits would have a

positive effect on the profitability and economic viability of

production. The results from the data gathered may serve as

basis in comparing the breeding efficiency of local goat

breeds in Oriental Mindoro to other goat in neighboring

In addition, identification and characterization of different

economic traits in goats serve as springboard to develop

Corresponding author: Rosalie D. Malvaz, (a) Naujan Municipal High School Bacungan Extension, DepEd Oriental Mindoro,

Philippines and (b) Agriculture and Allied Fields, Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology, Philippines. Email:

malvazrose@gmail.com.

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Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques

2019, Special Issue on Environment, Management and Economy, Pages: 1185-1190

breed that are locally adaptable which could provide high

economic profit especially to small hold farmers. There are

limited studies on the phenotypic characteristics, both

qualitative and quantitative attributes of Philippine goat

breed (1,5). There is limited publication on the phenotypic

characterization of goat trait that are reared in Oriental

Mindoro hence the study was conducted.

and other body measurements such as testicle circumference

and tail length. Visual observation was made and

morphological features were recorded based on breed

morphological characteristics described list of FAO for

phenotypic characterization of goat (6).

Different body measurements were taken when animals

are in pens or barns and not when the animals are nervous to

prevent stress in the part of the animals that may affect their

performance (6). Data were obtained early in the morning

between 6 – 7 am, before feeding the goats to avoid the effect

of feeds and water on animal’s size and conformation (6). A

tape measure was used to obtain various body

measurements. Aside from the terminologies described and

suggested by FAO in characterizing goats, the terminologies

used by the local goat raisers to describe specific traits of

their goats and as described by Bondoc were also noted (1,6).

Data on the phenotypic characteristics were collected

separately among the bucks and does. Pictures were captured

for further description and documentation and to have

justifications on various phenotypic traits (coat color, horn

and ear type, dentition, body measurements, etc.).

Materials and Methods

This study was conducted from May, 2018 to September,

2018 at the identified selected focal farms based on the

records reported by PSA (14), Goat Farms Directory of the

Livestock Research Division, Philippine Council for

Aquaculture and Agriculture Research and Development

(

LRD-PCAARRD), and the Goat Population Inventory of

the Federation of Goat and Sheep Performance Association

in the Philippines, Inc. (FGASPAPI) and Municipal

Agriculturist Officer (MAO) in Oriental Mindoro.

The different Municipalities in Oriental Mindoro has been

considered in this study. The top goat producing

municipalities with the highest goat density was used as

focal farms (12,14).

A total of 14 goat farms were visited in Oriental Mindoro,

which composed of seven municipalities for District I and

seven municipalities for District II. The specific

municipalities (Table 2) has identified based on Goat Farms

Directory of the Livestock Research Division, Philippine

Council for Aquaculture and Agriculture Research and

Development (LRD-PCAARRD), Goat Population

Inventory of the Federation of Goat and Sheep Performance

Association in the Philippines, Inc. (FGASPAPI) and the

National Goat Farm Production Performance in the

Philippines (NGFPP) Directory, and data from Municipal

Agriculture Officer (MAO) in Oriental Mindoro.

Morphological

measurements of the goats were based on the FAO Animal

Production and Health Guidelines: Phenotypic

characteristics and morphometric

Characterization of Animal Genetic Resources (6).

Morphological or qualitative characteristics include goat

characteristics covering only coat color (solid or mixed

color), and head profile which includes nose bridge width,

ear length, ear type (erect, droopy and long droopy) and horn

type (horned, polled and dehorned). On the other hand, the

quantitative measurements that were considered include the

body length, heart girth, wither height, tail length and testicle

circumferences.

Coat color and color markings. Coat characteristics

include only the coat color either having solid or mixed coat

color. Photographs were taken for further description and

documentation.

Table 1: Different municipalities of Oriental Mindoro as

focal farm during the conduct of the study

Head and face profile. Head and face profile include nose

bridge width, ear length, ear type (erect, droopy and long

droopy) and horn type (horned and polled).

PROVINCE DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY

Nose bridge width. Measured as the bridge (end to end) of

the nose in the middle part, in centimeter.

Ear length. Distance from the point of attachment to the

tip of the ear, in centimeter.

Ear type. Can be categorized into erect, droopy and long

droopy based on length (6)

Horn type. Can be categorized into horned which include

the dehorned animals, and naturally polled (6)

Body measurements. Different body measurements were

obtained when animals are in pens or barns but not when the

animals are nervous to prevent stress in the part of the

animals that may affect their performance (6). Data were

also obtained early in the morning between 6 – 7 am, before

feeding the goats to avoid the effect of feeds and water on

animal’s size and conformation (6). A tape measure was

used to obtain various body measurements (cm). Aside from

the terminologies described and suggested by FAO in

characterizing goats, the terminologies used by the local goat

raisers to describe specific traits of their goats and as

described by Bondoc was also taken into consideration (6).

Oriental

Mindoro

District I

District II

Baco, San Teodoro,

Naujan, Puerto Galera,

Victoria,

Pola, Soccoro,

Oriental

Mindoro

Bansud,

Pinamalayan,

Gloria, Bongabong,

Roxas,

Mansalay,

Bulalacao.

.1 Phenotypic Characterization

The phenotypic traits used in the study were based on

phenotypic characterization of Animal Genetic Resources of

FAO in goats (6). These include sex (female and male),

estimated age (year by age) or dentition class (kid, grower,

adult), coat color, facial (nose bridge width), horn type, ear

type, ear length, body lengths, wither height and heart girth

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Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques

2019, Special Issue on Environment, Management and Economy, Pages: 1185-1190

The quantitative measurements, including body length,

heart girth, wither height, tail length and testicle

circumferences were obtained as follows:

Body length. Is measured through the curve of the back

from the poll, which is the midway from between the ears up

to the base of the tail, in centimeter (6, 16).

Heart girth. Is the circumference of the animal’s chest just

behind the elbow, in centimeter (6, 16).

Wither height. Is taken through the curve of the back from

the front of the hip down to the hoof of the animal, in

centimeter (6, 16).

These results were similar to the range values reported by

Mwacharo et al., and Bondoc et al., in the National Goat

Registry in the Philippines, the National (Philippines) Goat

Breeders’ Catalogue, and in the “Animal breeding:

Principles and Practice in the Philippine Context”. Based on

the actual visitation in the various goat farms, the production

and management system of the goat raisers are almost

similar in terms of feeding, breeding, and overall production

management systems (1-4, 10). However, though same

production system was employed by the focal farms,

differences in the values can also be attributed to the varied

vegetation with different crude protein contents (i.e. forage

and pasture area), breeding management and selection

procedure (7, 9, 15).

Testicle circumference. Is the circumference of the

animal’s testicles, in centimeter (6, 16).

Tail length. Measured from the base of the tail to the end

of the coccygeal vertebrae, in centimeter (6, 16).

Table 2: Body Measurements of goats, regardless of sex, by

breed, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

2.2 Statistical Analysis

All data on phenotypic characteristics gathered were

BODY MEASUREMENTS (cm)

consolidated, organized, encoded and tabulated and

analyzed using descriptive analysis in terms of frequency

counts, percentage distributions and averages (means) using

PROC FREQ and PROC MEANS of the SAS System. In

addition, analysis of variance was used for numerical traits

and was further analyzed using Scheffe’s Test.

Body

length

55.615

61.571

Wither

Heart

girth

75.435

BREED

height

Boer (n=23)

Anglo nubian

n=23)

Upgraded

n=28)

53.538

61.478

70.321

(

₆₀_.₇₈₃b

₅₄_.₇₅₀c

₆₁_.₉₁₃c

(

.3 Ethics Statement

This study has managed reasonable efforts that minimize

₅₀_.₇₃₉d

69.000^a

₄₇_.₆₀₉d

65.063 ^a

₆₀_.₈₈₅c

78.375^a

Native (n=28)

Saanen

n=16)

the stress and discomfort of animal and all methods during

handling and gathering of data related to phenotypic

characterization that was permitted by the Ethics Committee

on the Animal Welfare Act (RA 8485 as amended by RA

(

Legend: Means within column with different superscripts

are significantly different (p<0.05)

0631).

Table 3: Body Measurements of goats, regardless of breed,

by sex, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

Result and Discussion

In general, based on record and dentition that was done on

BODY MEASUREMENTS (cm)

SEX

Body

length

59.716

Wither

height

55.821

Heart

girth

69.448

the different breeds of goats within Oriental Mindoro, and

because of the limitations given by the goat raisers only

breeder bucks and does (i.e. 1 pair – 2 pairs of teeth which is

equivalent to 1.5 to 2.5 years of age) were allowed to

phenotypically observed and measured.

Male

n=49)

(

₅₇_.₉₁₈a

₅₅_.₈₁₆a

₆₇_.₅₉₂a

Female

n=69)

(

3.1 Body Measurements

Legend: Means within rows with similar superscripts are

significantly different (p<0.05)

In general, findings revealed that regardless of sex,

Saanen have significantly (p<0.01) longer body length and

higher wither height compared to other breeds (Appendix

Tables 1 – 6). Likewise, Saanen goats had significantly

In addition, results showed that the body length (BL) of the

buck was found to be numerically higher than that of the doe

(

p<0.01) higher heart girth over the other goat genotypes but

(

Table 3). Similar trend was noted on wither height (WH)

are comparable (p>0.05) with the heart girth of Boer goats.

However, Philippine native goats had the least body

measurements and were significantly lower (p<0.01) from

the rest of the gene pool (Table 2).

and heart girth (HG). These differences could be due to sex

dimorphisms where buck is phenotypically bigger than does

at the same physiological age and stage (9,10).

It is also prominent that the body measurements of

Upgraded have significantly (p<0.01) longer BL than Boer

but comparable (p>0.05) to BL of Anglo-Nubian,

comparable WH and HG with that of Boer and native goats,

respectively. Results can be attributed to the combination of

the desirable characteristics of BOR for higher growth rate

while NUB was known for its milk production and longer

body conformation (5,10).

.2 Testicle Circumference

Differences in testicle circumference (TC) were observed

and measured in bucks available in the farm considering the

variations within gene pool (Table 4; Appendix Table 6).

Findings revealed that breeds of Saanen, Anglo-Nubian, and

Boer goats had significantly higher (p<0.01) TC than the rest

of the gene pools with 20.33, 20.30, and 19.67 cm,

respectively, compared to the TC of upgraded and Philippine

native goats.

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Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques

2019, Special Issue on Environment, Management and Economy, Pages: 1185-1190

Results can be associated to the findings reported by

several researchers (3,5) who mentioned that differences in

size of testicle could be attributed to genetics and

environmental factors such as nutrition, age and weather

condition, and the interaction of genotype and environment.

Furthermore, TC is a good indication of reproduction rate

since it is highly correlated to sperm production, thus the

higher the sperm production the higher is the probability of

fertilization and reproductive efficiency.

and health condition. In addition, the TL results were higher

than the findings reported by Yakubu et al., in West African

Dwarf and Red Sokoto goats with a TL of 11.22 cm and

10.34 cm respectively (16).

3.4 Coat Color and Color Markings

In general, Boer, Anglo Nubian, Upgraded and Philippine

Native goats have predominantly mixed color while all

Saanen goats have solid coat color (Table 7).

All Boer goats characterized in this study have mixed coat

color and are all brown head to shoulder and white body.

Likewise, Anglo-Nubian goats have predominantly mixed

color consisting of black backline with brown to reddish

brown body that ranges from 50.00% (bucks) to 61.54%

(does), brown-white (10.00%), and brown-black-white

(38.46– 40.00%). Moreover, upgraded goats have

predominantly mixed color which is generally a combination

of brown-black that ranges from 43.75% in does and 75.00%

in bucks. In general, these results confirmed the findings of

Bondoc et al., (1-4) that Anglo-Nubian, Boer and Upgraded

gene pool indeed exists in mixture of various colors but

differ in color marking distributions.

Table 4: Testicle circumference of bucks, by breed,

Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

TESTICLE

BREED

CIRCUMFERENCE

Boer (n=11)

Anglo nubian (n=10)

19.667

20.300

18.500^b

17.271^b

₂₀_.₃₃₃a

Upgraded (n=12)

Native (n=10)

Saanen (n=6)

Legend: Means in column with different superscripts are

significantly different (p<0.05)

The Philippine Native goats exist in a variety of colors and

were mainly black-brown and some have mixed color of

brown, black, reddish brown and have a solid color of white

.3 Tail Length

Analysis revealed significant differences in tail length

TL) that were measured and observed among gene pool

Table 5; Appendix Tables 7 and 8). Results showed that

breeds of Anglo-Nubian and Saanen were significantly

(

11.11–20.00%). These results confirmed the findings of

(

Bondoc et al., (1-4) that NA gene pool indeed exist in variety

of coat colors.

Findings can be associated with differences in country of

origins of the purebred NUB and BOR used in mating both

in buck and doe. NUB goats (13) may either be brown-black

that were originated from South Africa or NUB goats with

pure black or pure brown or mixture of brown-black-white

color that were originated from the United States of

America. While, BOR goats (13) may either be white-brown

or white-light brown that were originated from South Africa

or white-black BOR that were originated from Australia and

United States of America.

On the other hand, all Saanen goats have solid (creamy

white or white) coat color which is similar with the coat

color of purebred Saanen (13) that was originated in

Australia, United States of America and in South Africa.

Available publication or earlier report in the phenotypic

characterization of Saanen is very limited because of the

sensitivity of the “queen of dairy goat” that may affect its

milk production, hence this study was conducted.

higher (p<0.01) than the rest of the gene pool with TL of

15.435 and 14.438 cm, respectively. However, results

showed that TL among goat gene pools are comparable

(

p>0.05) regardless of sex (Table 6).

Table 5: Tail length of goats, regardless of sex, by breed,

Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

BREED

Boer (n=23)

Anglo nubian (n=23)

TAIL LENGTH (cm)

12.357

15.435

11.192^b^c

₁₀_.₇₈₃c

Upgraded (n=28)

Native (n=28)

14.438^a

Saanen (n=16)

Legend: Means in column with different superscripts are

significantly different (p<0.05)

Table 6: Tail length of goats, regardless of breed, by sex,

Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

3.5 Head and Face Profile

SEX

Male (n=49)

Female (n=69)

Legend: Means in column with similar superscripts are not

significantly different(p>0.05)

TAIL LENGTH (cm)

Nose bridge width and ear length. Findings revealed that

the nose bridge width (NBW) and ear length (EL) of Anglo-

Nubian goats were significantly (p<0.01) moredense and

longer with 14.391 and 19.870 cm, respectively (Table 8;

Appendix Tables 9 - 12). Likewise, the EL of bucks were

significantly longer (p<0.01) than the EL of does (Table 9).

On the other hand, analysis revealed that regardless of breed,

the NBW of goats are comparable (p>0.05) among bucks

and does.

Analysis revealed that EL was higher than the findings

reported values by Yakubu et al., in West African Dwarf and

Red Sokoto goats with an EL of 10.85 cm and 14.52 cm.,

respectively. Moreover, Pieters mentioned that differences

12.552

12.857

There is limited publication and earlier report on

phenotypic characterization involving the measurements of

TL in goats and its principles, hence this study was

conducted. Results can be associated to the findings reported

by several researchers (3, 5, 16) who mentioned that

differences in TL could be attributed to genetics and

environmental factors such as nutrition, age, and weather

1188

Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques

2019, Special Issue on Environment, Management and Economy, Pages: 1185-1190

in the width of nose and length of the ears could be attributed

both from genetic (heritable) and environmental factors such

as plane of nutrition, age and weather condition (13,16).

while all Boer and Saanen goats are horned. On the other

hand, majority of the does are dehorned (Table 10). These

results can be associated to the management practices of the

goat raisers that bucks are not usually dehorned to

maintained their aggressiveness, libido and masculinity.

Furthermore, presence of horn in male animals is a good

indication of higher reproductive efficiency since it is

considered a factor in successful mating due to detection of

does that are in estrus period, thus the higher probability of

conception (7,9).

Table 7: Coat color of goats, by sex, by breed, Oriental

Mindoro, Philippines

COAT COLOR (%)

SEX

BREED

Boer

Ear type. Results showed that regardless of sex, majority

of the Boer and Upgraded goats have droopy ears while more

than half (53-60%) of the Anglo-Nubian goats have long

droopy ears. On the other hand, findings revealed that all

Saanen and Philippine native goats have erect ears. These

results can be associated to the conclusions of Pieters and

Yakubu et al., who mentioned that differences in the ear type

can be directly correlated to ear length that could be

attributed both from genetic (heritable) and environmental

factors such as plane of nutrition, age and weather condition

(13,16).

(n=11)

100.00

0.00

Anglo

nubian

(

n=10)

Upgraded

n=12)

Native

n=10)

Saanen

n=6)

Boer

n=12)

10.00

25.00

30.00

0.00

50.0

75.0

50.0

0.00

40.0

0.00

MALE

(

20.0

(

100.0

0.000

(

100.00

Anglo

nubian

Table 10: Horn and ear type of goats, by sex, by breed,

Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

(

n=13)

Upgraded

n=16)

Native

n=18)

Saanen

n=10)

0.00

43.75

38.88

0.00

61.5

43.7

44.4

0.00

38.4

12.5

5.55

0.00

FEMALE

(

HORN

EAR TYPE (%)

TYPE (%)

(

11.11

BREED

(

100.00

Legend: BW – brown white; BB – brown black; BBW –

brown black white; W - white

Boer

(

n=11)

100

0.0

100

0.0

Table 8: Nose bridge width and ear length of goats,

regardless of sex, by breed, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

Anglo

nubian

BREED

NOSE

BRIDGE

WIDTH

EAR

LENGTH

(cm)

(

n=10)

Upgraded

n=12)

70.0 30.0

66.6 33.3

70.0 30.0

100 0.00

0.0

100

0.0

100

0.0

(

cm)

Native

(n=10)

Saanen

Boer (n=23)

10.478

17.957

Anglo nubian (n=23) 14.391

19.870

12.036^b

8.846^d

16.643^c

11.269^e

Upgraded (n=28)

Native (n=28)

(

n=6)

Boer

₁₀_.₈₇₅bc

₁₃_.₆₈₇d

(n=12)

Anglo

nubian

36.3 63.6 16.6 83.3

15.3 84.6 53.8 46.1

Saanen (n=16)

Legend: Means in column with different superscripts are

significantly different (p<0.05)

(

n=13)

Upgraded

n=16)

Native

n=18)

Saanen

n=10)

0.0

Table 9: Nose bridge width and ear length of goats,

regardless of breed, by sex, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

(

37.5 62.5

16.6 83.3

0.00 100

0.0

100

0.0

SEX

NOSE

BRIDGE

WIDTH (cm)

11.030

11.714

EAR

LENGTH

(cm)

(

100

(

Male (n=49)

Female (n=69)

16.898

Legend: H – horned; DE – dehorned; LD – long droopy;

15.298

DR - droopy

Legend: Means in column with different superscripts are

significantly different (p<0.05)

4 Conclusion

The findings of the study led to the following conclusion:

1. Findings revealed variations in the phenotypic

characteristics of goat gene pool. Generally, regardless of

Horn type. More than half (66.67 – 70%) of the Anglo-

Nubian, Upgraded and Philipine Native buck have horn

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Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques

2019, Special Issue on Environment, Management and Economy, Pages: 1185-1190

sex, Saanen goats have significantly longer body length and

higher wither height compared to other breeds. Likewise,

they had significantly higher heart girth over the other goat

genotypes but are comparable with the heart girth of Boer

goats. However, Philippine native goats had the least body

measurements and were significantly lower from the rest of

the gene pool. In addition, results showed that the body

length of the buck was found numerically higher than that of

the doe. Similar trend was noted on wither height and heart

girth.

References

1. Bondoc OL. The Philippine goat breed registry. National Goat

Breeder’s Catalogue. University of the Philippines, Los Bańos,

2002. Retrieved from http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/

search.do? recordID=PH2003000720

Bondoc OL. Philippine Goat Breed Registry in relation to

genetic improvement and conservation. Formerly The

Philippine Agriculturist. 2005.

Bondoc OL. Animal breeding: principles and practice in the

Philippine context. The University of the Philippines Press,

Quezon City, 2008:386 p.

. The breeds of Saanen, Anglo-Nubian, and Boer goats

4. Bondoc OL Characteristics of Philippine native goats Capra

hircus L.) ChevonPH, 2001. Retrieved from

https://chevonph.wordpress.com/

had significantly higher testicle circumference than the rest

of the goat in the gene pools.

Cruz EM. Goat Production Performance. Small Ruminant

Center, Central Luzon State University. Science City of Munoz,

Nueva Ecija, Philippines, 2007.

3. Anglo-Nubian and Saanen have significantly longer

tail length than the rest of the gene pool. However, results

showed that tail length among goat gene pools are

comparable regardless of sex.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Animal Production

and Health Guidelines. Phenotypic characterization of animal

genetic resources. Food and Agriculture of the United Nations,

4. Boer, Anglo Nubian, Upgraded and Philippine Native

goats have predominantly mixed color while all Saanen

goats have solid coat color.

Rome, 2012. 95-99. Retrieved from

org/docrep/015/i2686e/i2686e00.pdf

Devendra C, Burns M. Goat production in the Tropics.

Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux, U.K, 1983.

http://www.fao.

5. The nose bridge width and ear length of Anglo-Nubian

goats were significantly (p<0.01) denser and longer.

Likewise, the ear lengths of bucks were significantly longer

than that of the does. On the other hand, analysis revealed

that regardless of breed, the nose bridge width of goats is

comparable among bucks and does.

Kassahun A, Solomon A. Breeds of sheep and goats, 2008:5-

6. In: Alemu Yami and R.C. Merkel (eds.). Sheep and goat

productivity improvement program, USAID

Manzi M, Rutagwenda T, Kanuya N, Chatikobo P.

Phenotypical characterization of goats raised under traditional

husbandry systems in Bugesera and Nyagatare Distriscts of

Dwanda. J. of Anim. and Vet. Adv, 2011, 2397–2398.

6. More than half of the Anglo-Nubian, Upgraded and

Philippine Native buck have horn while all Boer and Saanen

goats are horned. On the other hand, majority of the does are

dehorned. Results showed that regardless of sex, majority of

the Boer and Upgraded goats have droopy ears while more

than half of the Anglo-Nubian goats have long droopy ears.

On the other hand, findings revealed that all Saanen and

Philippine native goats have erect ears.

0. Mwacharo JM, Okeyo AM, Kamande GK, Rege JE. The small

East African shorthorn zebu cows in Kenya. I: Linear body

measurements. Tropical Animal Health and Production. 2006

Jan 1;38(1):65-74.

1. Okpeku M, Yakubu A, Peters S, Ozoje M, Ikeobi C, Adebambo

O, Imumorin I. Application of multivariate principal component

analysis to morphological characterization of indigenous goats

in Southern Nigeria. Acta Agriculturae Slovenica. 2011 Dec

1;98(2):101.

2. Tabeekh MA. Competency Assessment of Veterinary Medicine

Students Who are Trained in Basra Veterinary Hospital-2017.

Animal Review. 2017 Dec;4(4):53-7.

3. Pieters A. Genetic characterization of commercial goat

populations in South Africa (Doctoral dissertation, University

of Pretoria).

7. For future goat breeding program, results suggest to

include or cross Saanen, Anglo-Nubian and Boer to other

goat breed groups to improve the growth performance of

goat. In addition, goat enthusiasts, geneticist and breeder

may include Anglo-Nubian in their breeding and selection

program if they want to have long droopy ears and denser

nose (nose bridge width). Likewise, Anglo-Nubian and

Saanen goats can be included in improving reproductive

efficiency (i.e. testicle circumference).

14. PSA. from

https://psa.gov.ph/livestock-poultry-iprs/goat/inventory,\.

5. Wilson RT. Livestock production in central Mali:

Environmental factors affecting weight in traditionally

managed goats and sheep. Animal Science. 1987

Oct;45(2):223-32.

6. Yakubu A, Salako AE, Imumorin IG, Ige AO, Akinyemi MO.

Discriminant analysis of morphometric differentiation in the

West African Dwarf and Red Sokoto goats. South African

Journal of Animal Science. 2010;40(4).

Recommendation

Based on the results of the study, it is recommended to

utilize Saanen, Anglo-Nubian, and Boer as breeders, if the

goals of the goat raisers and enthusiasts are to improve the

growth rate based on their longer body length, and higher

heart girth and wither height that serve as pre-requisites in

weight estimation in the absence of expensive weighing

scale. In addition, improvement of nose bridge width and ear

length can be done by including Anglo-Nubian goats in the

breeding program while improvement of reproductive traits

based on testicle circumference using Saanen and Anglo-

Nubian goats are recommended since these influence the

semen production and health condition. Moreover, it is also

recommended that an investigation on the genetic

characterization of various goat gene pools using

microsatellite markers will be done to complement the

results obtained from phenotypic characterization.

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