The study examines phenotypic characterization of Central Highland and Woyto-Guji goat breeds at Meta Robi and Konso districts of Ethiopia. Purposive and random sampling techniques were employed to select sample villages and respondent. For administration of semi-structured questionnaire and phenotypic characterization, a total of 240 households and 601 adult animals, respectively, were selected. The average goat flock size (31.25 ± 22.46) owned per household of Konso was significantly (P < 0.01) higher than Meta Robi (12.73 ± 8). In Konso, natural pasture was the most frequently mentioned feed source during wet season, while hay was the most important feed source during dry season. On the other hand, in Meta Robi, natural pasture was the most frequently mentioned feed source during wet and dry seasons. Coat colour type, horn shape, ear orientation, wattle and beard were found to differ highly significantly (P < 0.001) among the two goat breeds. Goat breed had a significant effect (P < 0.001) on body weight and other body measurements except pelvic width (P > 0.05). The least-square means of body weight, body length, height at wither, chest girth, chest width, ramp length, horn length, ear length and pelvic width of Central Highland female goats were 29.5 ± 0.2 kg, 62.2 ± 0.2 cm, 67.5 ± 0.2 cm, 72.9 ± 0.2 cm, 13.4 ± 0.1 cm, 19.7 ± 0.1 cm, 12.8 ± 0.2 cm, 14.6 ± 0.1 cm and 13.5 ± 0.1 cm, respectively. The corresponding values for Woyto-Guji female goats were 24.8 ± 0.3 kg, 57.4 ± 0.2 cm, 61.9 ± 0.2 cm, 68.3 ± 0.2 cm, 12.1 ± 0.1 cm, 17.3 ± 0.1 cm, 10 ± 0.2 cm, 13 ± 0.1 cm and 13.4 ± 0.1 cm, respectively. The observed variations in production system and morphological traits among the sample populations coupled with their adaptive traits would indeed justify the need for designing breed improvement programme for both breeds.

Assessment of diversity is a prerequisite for the management and conservation of farm animal genetic resources. To study the morphological features of Fipa cattle in Southwestern Tanzania, 108 herds were studied. Fourteen body measurements (body weight, body length, height at withers, heart girth, ear length, ear width, horn length, horn-base thickness, horn-base spacing, horn-tip spacing, rump width, rump length, tail length and tail-base thickness) and qualitative traits were recorded from 307 animals. Measurements were classified according to location and animal sex. Both location and sex significantly (P < 0.05) influenced all the measurements, with castrates and bulls superseding cows. Most measurements were positively and highly significantly (P < 0.001) correlated with the body weight predicted accurately from heart girth. The animals had variable colour patterns, but being predominantly red (20.9 percent), pied black and white (18.6 percent), black (17.9 percent) and pied red and white (14.7 percent). All animals had sloping rumps and most (81.8 percent) had small-sized humps. Most (94.8 percent) animals had pyramid-shaped humps located in the cervico-thoracic position. Most (91.5 percent) animals had upward–forward oriented and lyre-shaped horns. All the animals had flat faces and backs, and laterally oriented ears. Most (97.1 percent) animals had medium-sized dewlaps, medium-sized teats (93.6 percent) and medium-sized quarters (87.2 percent). The navel flap was absent in most (87.6 percent) animals. Thus, the Fipa cattle can be classified as a medium-sized strain with considerable variation in body size and morphological features within and between districts.

The objective of this study was the morphological characterization of the sheep population in the southwest of Tunisia. A joint analysis of quantitative and qualitative characters was carried out on 987 animals of three breeds: two local breeds (Barbarine (BAR) and Queue Fine de l'Ouest (QFG and QFT)) and an exotic breed introduced from Morocco, the D'man (DMN) breed.

Results on quantitative characters (height at withers (HG), body length (LC), thorax perimeter (PT), body weight of males (P♂) and body weight of females (P♀)) showed a significant superiority of the Queue Fine de l'Ouest breed compared to the other two breeds. On the other hand, results on qualitative characters (fleece color, horn and wattles) showed white to be the dominant color of the fleece in the Barbarine and Queue Fine breeds, while for the D'man breed there were various colors. Generally, females of the three breeds were polled while males were horned for the Queue Fine and polled for the Barbarine and D'man breeds. The Barbarine distinguishes itself from the other breeds by the total absence of wattles which are predominantly missing in the other two breeds.

Genetic distances estimated on the basis of quantitative characters showed that distances found between the Barbarine-D'man and Fine Tail of Ouest-D'man breeds were higher than those found between the Barbarine-Queue Fine breeds.