PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZATION, PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE AND BREEDING PRACTICES OF INDIGENOUS CATTLE IN IN AMARO SPECIAL WOREDA, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The study was conducted in Amaro Special Woreda, southern Ethiopia with the objective of on farm phenotypic characterization of indigenous cattle, production performances of indigenous cattle and assesses the traditional breeding practices of the farmers. Data were collected through semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, field observations, and linear body measurements of indigenous cattle. A total of 194 households were randomly selected and interviewed. A total of 397 adult cattle (305 female and 92 male) were sampled for morphological description and linear body measurements. The study revealed that animal disease; mainly trypanosomiasis and internal parasite were the major limiting factor of indigenous cattle breeding in the study area. Age at first service (AFS), Age at first calving (AFC), calving interval (CI) and days open (DO) showed highly significant differences (p<0.05) in current studied agro-ecologies; 39.2±3.16 months, 48.067±3.07 months, 17.6±1.64 months and 190.3±2.439 days respectively. The overall lactation length in days was 6.21±0.1 months in wet season and 5±0.09 months in dry season. The major selection criteria for male breeding bulls were body conformation, body size and coat color and for breeding female were milk yield, body conformation, body size and udder size. The communities in the study areas preferred the indigenous cattle populations with good performance on draught power, better reproductive efficiency, better milk yield and better adaptability to the local environment. Results from analysis of variance (ANOVA) on continuous variables showed significant differences (p< 0.05) among agro-ecologies, sex and dentation technique/age classes. The mean linear measurements of female indigenous cattle for chest girth, body length, body weight, height at withers, height at rump, fore teat length, rear teat length, udder circumference and navel flap width were 135.1±0.391cm, 107.5±0.136cm, 182±1.185kg, 105.8±0.174cm, 107.7±0.104cm, 3.5±0.042cm, 3.4±0.041cm, 24.7±0.13cm and 3.6±0.044cm respectively. However, the male indigenous cattle had chest girth, body length, body weight, height at withers, height at rump and perpetual sheath width were 138.6±0.256cm, 113.8±0.253cm, 201.8±1.326kg 108.3±0.185cm, 109.5±0.219cm and 7.9±0.175cm respectively. Thus, indigenous cattle breeding of the study area was not homogenous on their phenotypic features and further genetic characterization should be done to confirm their genetic distinctiveness. Feed shortage got the highest rank by cattle owners to be the most limiting factor for productivity of their cattle followed by grazing land. This implies that the importance of improving feed (production of improved forage and grasses) and disease management (disease prevention control vaccination and treatment) are the critical steps toward improvement of the breed. The current study result indicated that Amaro cattle production and reproductive performance in the study agro-ecology zone had potential for improvement. The phenotypic results of the highland cattle population varied from the midland and lowland agro-ecology zones and therefore, to put specific characterizations of the cattle type further molecular production and productivity evaluations is needed