Local goat in Kabylie (Chemini and Bouzeguene)

The livestock sector plays a dynamic role in the economic development of rural areas in Algeria. Due to its adaptation to harsh environments, goat breeding is practiced in many areas of the country. To the north, it is confined to mountainous areas, but the bulk of the workforce is left in the steppe and semi-desert areas. The goat population in Algeria reached 3.8 million heads, ranking second after sheep. The present work contributes to a better characterisation of local goat in Kabylie for production and reproduction traits. The study was conducted in the regions of Chemini (Bejaia province) and Bouzeguene (Tizi-Ouzou province). A survey was conducted in 29 herds. The results revealed that the overall mean of goats per households was 6.69 ± 2.97. The purposes of keeping goat in Chemini and Bouzguene was private consumption of milk (82.76%) and meat (68.97%) as well as for commercial exchange (62.07%). The Kabyle goat is small (male: 62.23 cm and female: 58.41 cm) with long hair. Its ears are drooping, its convex profile has a slightly pronounced nasal split and its coat colour ranges from dark brown to black. However, the crossbreeding with exotic breeds (mainly with Saanen goat), controlled or uncontrolled, increased the frequency of white coat. The average age at puberty in males was 6.93 ± 1.04 and 7.38 ± 0.94 months in females. The reported age at first kidding and kidding interval were 13.03 ± 0.87 months and 7.83 ± 1.29 months, respectively