Characterization of indigenous goats types of Eritrea, Nothern and Western Ethiopia.

Characterization is important in genetic resources conservation and utilization, but few information about indigenous livestock types are available. In the present study data of 22,934 goats were collected by a rapid survey method to characterize goats of Eritrea. Northern and Western Ethiopia. Multivariate analyses were employed in the classification and the tracing of the ancestry of the indigenous goats. Eleven goat types are identified and three ancestral lines are traced. The identified goat types are described according to FAO (1988) standard descriptor lists. Management practices and the performances of these goat types are also assessed. Highland of Ethiopia is found as a centre of origin for the most goat types identified in the survey area. The primary base for diversity of the 11 goat types are agro-climatic variation. As a result body size and other qualitative characters are significantly affected by climatic factors to a place where the particular goat type has adapted. Human seclection breeding also contributed for the phenotypic variation of goat types. Large value of standard deviations in some of the measured variables for each goat type may indicate the still existing potential genotypic diversity. This could make the study region as the gene pool of the goat genotypes. Flock size, demographic structures and management problems are more related to the purpose of goat keeping and to the general farming system