INDIGENOUS GOATS AND SHEEP BREEDS AND THEIR CROSSES IN THE TROPICS AND
SUBTROPICS: GROWTH TRAITS, CARCASS PARAMETERS AND MEAT QUALITY PROPERTIES

INDIGENOUS GOATS AND SHEEP BREEDS AND THEIR CROSSES IN THE TROPICS AND
SUBTROPICS: GROWTH TRAITS, CARCASS PARAMETERS AND MEAT QUALITY PROPERTIES

ASSAN NEVER

The tropics and subtropics is a habitat to diverse populations of
indigenous goats and sheep breeds known for their adaptability to the
existing harsh agro-ecological conditions and the majority are reared
under traditional systems of management. Apart from their inherent
ability to cope with a range of climatic conditions including disease
challenges and inadequate feed resources whilst being exposed to
mostly unsound management practices, indigenous goats and sheep are
an integral part of the smallholder resource poor rural economies.
Therefore, there is an obligation and considerable potential for
increased meat production from the already existing diversity of
indigenous goats and sheep animal genetic resources in the tropics and
subtropics. However, indigenous goat and sheep performance in most
cases is less than ideal due to a number of constraints namely
inadequate nutrition and disease prevalence, poor support institutional
involvement and lack of adequate government policies and funding to
develop this industry. It has been noted that apart from their low
genetic potential, indigenous goats and sheep’s exposure to suboptimal
nutrition has been identified as the major factor that contribute to their
low meat production. This is despite that the principal advantage of
utilising indigenous goats and sheep in the tropics and subtropics is
rightfully based on their small size and ability to utilise less productive
areas that exist in existing total farming areas. Their ability to adapt to
suboptimal production conditions characterised by persistent substandard nutritional feed resources makes indigenous goats and
sheep perfect candidates for meat production in the tropics and
subtropics. The potentiality of indigenous goats and sheep in the tropics
and subtropics has been downgraded because they have not been
selected for high meat performance. In this case efforts are at different
stages of genetic characterisation of various indigenous goats and sheep
breeds in order to ascertain their meat production potential. At the
same time, crossing of genetically improved exotic goats and sheep
breeds with indigenous flocks, has been noted as a feasible option to
enhance meat productivity in the tropics and subtropics. Recent trends
in indigenous goats and sheep utilization in order to match demand for
meat and improve productivity in resource poor farming areas in the
tropics and subtropics, local farmers have been incentivised to rear
improved genotypes, which are predominantly crossbreds between
superior meat exotic breeds and the indigenous goats and sheep breeds.
Productivity with regards to indigenous goats and sheep can be specified
as the magnitude of production or efficiency of production. This is based
on the fact that in any indigenous goats and sheep production
environment, productivity per se will exceptionally depend on an
intricate correlations of biotic, abiotic and socio-economic variables. The
factors are interdependent and therefore should be considered
comprehensively to establish their ranking and how adjustments in
constituents influence the whole indigenous goats and sheep production
systems. A number of studies have been carried out to assess the
growth potential, carcass and meat quality properties of several
indigenous goats and sheep and their crosses in various agro-ecological
regions within the tropics and subtropics. The results have been
inconsistent due to various reasons which might probably include non-
identical production conditions and the genetics of various small
ruminants’ ecotype breeding groups. The present review gives an insight
on some documented growth performance and carcass and meat quality
properties of indigenous goats and sheep in the tropics and subtropics.

Scientific Journal of Animal Science

2020