Morphological and morphometric characterization of cattle population in northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The research was conducted in north Wello and south Gonder zones of Amhara region with the aim of investigating phenotypic diversity of cattle. The study areas were selected based on prior experience where Smada cattle breed breeding track can be found and other areas were selected based on agroecology, area and population distribution. Both morphological and metric value were recorded from 178 male and 272 female. The morphological data were entered to SPSS for conducting chi-square test procedure. The morphometric data were subjected to SAS GLM procedures by fitting sex, agro ecology, districts and agro ecology interaction with districts. Except body length (BL) and ear length (EL) other morphometric characteristics of cattle has variation (P < 0.05) based on the sex of cattle. Population difference also observed within agro ecology of the study areas. Accordingly, in highland part of the study areas; BL, heart girth (HG) and pelvic width (PW) are better (P < 0.05) than midland of the study areas. However, population difference (P < 0.05) along districts lacks consistency. Black and red coat color covers major observation along the study areas. Black coat color is not preferred culturally, and the price of such cattle is lower. The red coat color is the next observed and culturally preferred color for farmers. Including such coat color in trait preference of farmers for conducting improvement programs along with other traits is crucial. Moreover, cattle population along districts has no variation based on morphometric and morphological results. Therefore, considering this cattle population as Smada cattle breed is recommended.