Production System, Morphological Characterization And Structural Indices Of Indigenous Cattle (PDF)

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Biology - Zoology, , language: English, abstract: The study was conducted in Soro and Misha districts of Hadiya zone Southern Ethiopia. The objectives of the study were; to describe the production system, to characterize indigenous cattle breeds by using economically important traits and to develop structural indices to assess type and function of cattle using morphometrical traits. The study was undertaken to describe the production system, the cattle by using qualitative and quantitative traits.

Field studies and collection of data were carried out by using semi-structured questionnaire, observation, key informants, focused group discussion and linear body measurements of sampled cattle and also from secondary data sources. A total of 240 households (120 from each district) were selected by using stepwise purposive followed by random selection method for questionnaire interview and 660 cattle (480 cows and 180 bulls) for morphological description and to measure quantitative and qualitative traits of cattle.

The qualitative traits are assessed by visual observation while the qualitative traits were measured by using self devised instruments by the researcher. The data were analyzed by SPSS software, while the qualitative traits were compared by using Chi-square test, the quantitative traits were compared by Duncan's multiple range test and the values were compared at the significance level P<0.05.