Breeding System and Multivariate Analysis of Phenotypic Variability of Arbia Goat Breed in the Ouarsenis Region (Tissemsilt and Tiaret, Algeria)

Abstract

The objective of our study is the characterization of the breeding system followed by a phenotypic characterization of the local breed goat named Arbia. The study samples come from the local goat population of the two wilayas Tiaret and Tissemsilt, under a family breeding mode mainly. The morphometric study was carried out on the taking of body measurements, and the phenotypic description in 59 goats and representatives including 47 females and 12 males characterized as adults and unrelated. The age was determined by a dental examination and commemorative of the breeder. According to the developed questionnaire, we found that the breeders of goat farms are mostly men (76.92%) than women (23.07%), this finding can be explained by the difficulty of breeding as well as the extensive practice of breeding in pastures. The age ranges from 25 years to over 50 years, our work has allowed us to confirm that that goat rearing is secondary to sheep rearing. It has been observed that reproduction is free, uncontrolled, males are permanently in the herds and the cradle of the breed in the crossbreeding among some breeders is not respected. For milk production, the majority of the farmers surveyed practice manual milking in the morning, once a day. The average yield is between 0.5 and 1 litre depending on the feed distributed. Almost all the farms visited contain traditional buildings or sheepfolds or sometimes buildings for mixed breeding but what is remarkable among most breeders despite the simple means and traditional breeding, hygiene is respected.The results of the GLM procedure show that the measured quantitative characters are not influenced by the region effect (P>0.05), except for two characters Lnb (F value=5.28; ddl= 1; P=0.0156) and Lco (F value=17.41; ddl= 1; P=0.0001) whose difference is significant between the two regions with R² values ​​equal to 18.16% and 33.21% respectively. The Mahalanobis distance was estimated at D²=11.99 between the two regions, namely Tiaret and Tissemsilt using the PROC CANDISC procedure. This low Mahalanobis distance which does not exceed 50 (D²<50) results in considerable phenotypic overlaps between individuals from the two localities.