Phenotypic Characterization of Donkey in the Northeastern Sahel Agro Ecological Zone of Nigeria
J. Adamu1, M.O. Momoh2, A.O. Abdulraheem1, A.O. Raji1, N.K. Alade1, J. Aliyu1
1University of Maiduguri, Departments of Animal Sciences, Nigeria.
2Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University Makurdi, Department of animal Breeding and Genetics, Nigeria.
Abstract
The phenotypic characterizations of the donkey in the Sahel agro ecological zone of Nigeria were assessed. A total number of 200 matured adult donkeys were sampled through stratified random samplings from donkey owners in some part of Borno and Yobe state and were used for phenotypic studies. The qualitative traits measured include, face profile, ear size, ear orientation, coat color, color pattern, hair type, fur distribution, udder size and teat size. Phenotypic body measurements evaluated include face length (FL), distance between the eyes (DBE), ear length (EL), neck length (NL), chest girth (CG), height at withers (HW), body length (BL), tail length (TL) and body weight. Data and qualitative traits were subjected to descriptive statistics such as means, percentages and frequencies. On the other hand, quantitative phenotypic data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the IBM SPSS (2021). Pearson correlation analysis was carried out on body weight and the phenotypic data to determine the correlation between various body parameters. The phenotypic of the donkey in the Sahel agro – ecological zone of Nigeria presents diversities in body weight and morphometric body measurements. Breed / ecotypes as well as location significantly (p<0.05) impacted body weight and body linear measurements of the donkey. The high positive and significant phenotypic correlations observed between body weight and some morphometric body parameters and among some morphometric body parameters may hold some significance for improvements in body weight and morphometric body measurements.
Keywords: Phenotypic, Donkey, Body measurement, Correlation. Qualitative traits
Full length article *Corresponding Author, e-mail: Jummaiyalmal@gmail.com, doi# 10.71111/Science today/2-25-2-2-st-2