Abstract:
The research was conducted in three districts of Western Tigray Zone and Tahitay Adiyabo
district North western Tigray Ethiopiafrom June 2014 to May 2015. Semi structured questionn
aires, morphological observations, morpho metrical measurements and Focus Group Discussi
ons were employed for data collection. Descriptive statistics, chi square tests, general linear m
ode I, hierarchal cluster analysis, correlation and regression analyses were applied to characte
rize production systems, morphological and biometrical characters and to define breeding obje
ctives. Goat production has been serving as source of income, meat, milk, prestige and social v
alue with corresponding index (1) value of 0.42, 0.32 and 0.16, respectively. Most of respond en
ts practiced selection for breeding males than females. The identified major goat production eo
nstraints were disease prevalence, feed shortage, drug and water. shortage in all districts. Distr
ict and sex had highly significant (P<O.01) effect on abundance of ruff and wattles, type of hor
n shape and back profile. Average morphometric traits of the Hassan goat populations were 22
.9cm, 63.5cm, 35.6cm, 75.2cm, 33.9kg, 74.ocm, 15.0cm and 18.2cm; Begait goat 22. 1cm, 63.4c
m, 34.7cm, 73.3cm, 32.1kg, 72.9cm, 14.7cm andI6.8cm; Arado goat populations were 15. 7cm,
57.6cm, 32.7cm, 70.3cm, 27.3kg, 68.9cm, J3.3cm and 15.6cm while for Medenes goats were 20
.5cm, 60.0cm, 33.4cm, 71.8cm, 31.2kg, 71.0 cm, 14.1cm and 16.2cmfor the linear body measu
rements of ear length, bodylength, neck length, heart girth, body weight, height at withers
pelvic width and horn length. Body weight had significant (P<O.OI) relationships with heart
girth (r=0.884) for males whereas and for females (r=0.85). The goat populations identified at
the study areas were categorized as pure and crossbred. And still it needs further investigation
at molecular level and their reproductive performance to clear their potential.
Key words: Agro ecology, breeding objectives, goat population, phenotype. Tigray, Ethiopia.