Influence of Blood Protein Polymorphism on Morphometric Indices of Nigerian Breeds of Goats

Abstract

The impact of Haemoglobin, Transferrin and Carbonic Anhydrase polymorphisms on age based morphological characters was studied among Red Sokoto, Sahel and West Africa Dwarf breeds of goat. A total of 900 goats equally distributed across three age groups and both gender were used for the study. Morphometric parameters were: Body weight(BW) Horn Length (HL); Ear Length (EL); Shoulder width (SW); Neck circumference (NC); Body Length(BL); Withers Height (WH); Heart Girth (HG); Paunch Girth (PG) and Tail Length (TL) respectively. Effects of blood protein polymorphisms on morphometric measurements were observed to vary with age especially with haemoglobin and transferrin. Also carbonic anhydrase influenced body mensuration characteristics of goats aged 1-2 years in BW, HL, EL, NC, BL and TL and only TL in 2-3 years old. The FF form of carbonic anhydrase was superior for most indices. The other proteins were not definitive in their effect across age groups.

Key words: Haemoglobin, Transferrin, Carbonic Anhydrase and morphometry, goat