Breeding Objectives, Selection Criteria and Breeding Practices of Indigenous Goat Population in Ethiopia: A Review

Breeding objectives and selection criteria are the main component in small ruminant production and these parameters should be identified to formulate sustainable breeding programs. Farmers select breeding stock to be parents of the next generation by using various criteria in different agro ecologies and production systems. However, selection is practiced by livestock keepers without having knowledge of heritability of traits, repeatability and genetic and phenotypic correlation among traits. Selection is practiced by giving more emphasis for qualitative traits such as color and appearance, which are less relevant to production characters. Under smallholder subsistence production system, goats are mainly kept for multipurpose roles and there is no definite breeding goal. The objectives of keeping goats varied based on production system, socio economic factors, and cultural role. The breeding system that is dominantly practiced by farmers is uncontrolled mating which leads to mating of related animals that in turn may cause loss of fitness and reproductive traits due to the occurrence of inbreeding. The main factors that attributed to uncontrolled mating are the presence of communal grazing land, lack of awareness on the consequence of inbreeding, and lack of sufficient breeding bucks in the flocks. To improve the productivity of the indigenous goat population, farmers should identify the breeding objectives and breeding goal traits and selection should be practiced towards those identified traits based on the recorded performances. The objective of this review is thus to highlight the breeding objectives, selection criteria and breeding practices of indigenous goat types in a wide range production systems of Ethiopia by carefully reviewing recently available literature sources.