Morphological characterization of indigenous goats in the region of Laghouat in Algeria

This study aims to characterize phenotypically two indigenous goat breeds in Laghouat area (Algeria) and to evaluate effect of age and sex on morph-biometrics characteristics. A total of 312 animals were investigated : 58 females of Mekatia breed and 254 of Arabia breed (44 males and 210 females). The results show that Mekatia breed is characterized by short hair type (96.55%) whereas Arabia breed by long hair type (100% for males, 92.38% for females). The majority of both breeds were multi-coloured (≥3 colors). The semi-pendulous ears were the most represented in Mekatia (48.28%) while in Arabia, the pendulous ears were the dominant (79.55% and 75.72% for males and females respectively). About quantitative traits, both breeds are classified as large. The age effect is shown for more half of measurements with an overall increase of animal size with age (p˂0.05). A significant sexual dimorphism (p˂0.05) is shown for all measurements except two characters (ear length and ischia width). The results of this study can be a basis for the description and standardization of goat breeds, Mekatia and Arabia, in the region of Laghouat in Algeria.
El objetivo de este estudio es caracterizar fenotípicamente dos razas de cabras indígenas en el área de Laghouat (Argelia), y evaluar el efecto de la edad y el sexo sobre las características biométricas morfológicas. Se analizarón un total de 312 animales: 58 hembras de raza Mekatia y 254 de raza Arabia (44 machos y 210 hembras). Los resultados muestran que la raza Mekatia se caracteriza por el pelo corto (96.55%) mientras que Arabia muestra un pelo largo (100% para los machos, 92.38% para las hembras). La mayor parte de los animales de ambas razas eran multicolores (≥3 colores). Las orejas semi-pendulares fueron las más representadas en Mekatia (48.28%) mientras que en Arabia, las orejas pendulares fueron las dominantes (79.55% y 75.72% en machos y en hembras, respectivamente). Sobre los rasgos cuantitativos, ambas razas se clasifican como grandes. El efecto de la edad se muestra para más de la mitad de las mediciones con un aumento general del tamaño del animal con la edad (p