Influence of morphological traits on age-type conformation and live body weight of cameroon’s native goat

The influence of qualitative characteristics on conformation and weight (BW) was assessed on 383 does of Cameroon native goats (CNG) from the Western highland (WHAZ) and bimodal rainforest (BRFAZ) agroecological zones. The study firstly aims at evaluating each characteristic. Secondly, at identifying morphometric markers of conformation and live body weight (BW). Qualitative traits included: dominant coat colour (DCC), dominant coat colour with rare colour location (DCCRL), coat colour pattern (CCP), rare colour location (RCL); presence of horn (PH), horn orientation (HO), horn tip orientation (HTO), horn quality (HQ); ear orientation (EO); presence of beard (PB) or wattles (PW) and supernumerary teat (SNT). The conformation consisted of: chest girth (CG), body length (BL) and height at wither (HW). To identify morphometric markers, the females were first described according to each criterion and two levels of doe’s performances, low and high, were considered for CG, BL and HW. For the conformation traits and weight, the individual with a value inferior or equal () to the mean value of the whole females of the same age was considered as low while those remaining were taken as high. The main results are as follow: For qualitative traits, 31 types of DCC have been recorded and the coat colour black/white is more represented (37.5%) while the Grey/black/white, Grey/white/brown, Red/brown/ white, Red/white, the White/fawn and the white/grey were the least represented (  0.5%). 85 types DCCRL recorded, with black/white (15%). By this method, 98.7 % of the female colour had a frequency  0.5%. 12 CCP were observed and the patchy type was so far the most represented with more than 70% while other types apart from the Black, the Roan and the Badger face, 0.5%. 45 RCL were noted at different parts on body with frequencies varying from 0.26 to 35.88 %, the most frequent being the patchy type. No female studied has wattle. Beard was not present in 92.35 % and present in 7.65% of females. Horned animal displayed varieties of shapes, tip orientations and qualities. Specifically, 10 HO were observed: Backward (40.85 %), Straight (26.52 %), Backward/Lateral (14.06 %), Straight/Forward (7.7 %), Straight/Lateral (7.43 %), Forward (1.33%), Lateral (1.33 %), and Backward/Straight (0.52%), Forward/Lateral whereas polled animal was scarce (0.26 %). Concerning HTO, 4 types were recorded namely the uniform (61.8%), the upward, (31.8%), the Lateral (5.04%) the least represented being the uniform/deviated (1.33 %). Four HQ were recorded, the normal (92.84 %), the abnormal (3.71 %), the Abnormal/stump (2.40 %) and the Normal/stump (1.06 %). EO was of two types, the horizontally (24.67 %) and the Erect (75.33 %). The SNT exists in the sample of does studied but in little proportion (1.3 %). The mean values (cm) for CG, HW and BL were 68.82 ± 6.42, 50.48 ± 4.19 and 59.53 ± 6.21. The mean BW is 22.80 ± 5.43 kg. The association between the coat colour as well as the PB with the level of HW, BL, CG and the BW is not significant (P>0.05). Consequently, they can not be used as a criterion for the selection of female with high stature. HO is not significantly (P>0.05) associated with the HW but was significantly (P0.05) associated with BL, CG and BW. For the BL, females with backward lateral HO are mostly found in the group of high than in low. The largest CG and heavier does have in majority backward and backward lateral, while those with the smallest chest girth and weight are most frequent in straight and straight Lateral HO groups. The association between the HTO with the level of HW, BL, CG and BW is not significant (P>0.05) and therefore is not useful for the selection of female with high stature. HQ is significantly (P0.05) associated with the CG and BW but not significantly (P>0.05) associated with the HW and BL. Females with abnormal/stump have all smallest chest girth and the weight. EO is significantly (P0.001) associated with the level of HW, the BL, CG and BW. The frequency of Lateral ear does was always greater in the group with the highest level of conformation and weight. Therefore, EO can be used as a selection criterion for conformation or growth in CNG. SNT is significantly (P0.05) associated with the BL but not significantly (P>0.05) associated with the HW, the CG or BW. Females with extra teats were only found in high body length group. Finally, the study highlighted and proposed morphological traits that may be use to choose high quality does on farm. Examining the molecular determinism of such phenotypic relationships is recommended.