Milk Yield and its Correlation with Conformation Traits in West African Goats Reared in the Tropics

Background and Objective: Goat milk plays a crucial nutritional role in developing countries, particularly in rural areas where most goats are raised. Research suggested that addressing protein deficiency in these regions could be achieved by promoting goat farming, which offers both meat and milk. Therefore, harnessing the genetic diversity of indigenous goat breeds could enhance milk production potential through selective breeding. This study was conducted to evaluate milk yield and conformation traits in West African dwarf goats as well as the phenotypic correlation between milk yield and conformation traits. Materials and Methods: A total of twenty-four West African Dwarf lactating does from eight herds were studied. Body conformation traits studied were body length (BL), height at wither (HW), hearth girth (HG), stature (ST) and body depth (BD). Body weight (BWT) of the does was also evaluated. Milk yield traits studied were average daily yield (ADY), initial yield (IY), total yield (TY), peak yield, peak day (PD) and lactation length (LL). Correlation between milk yield and conformation traits was established using Pearson correlation analysis of SPSS. Results: The result obtained indicated that milk yield traits were 252.96±15.21 g, 135.80±9.51 g, 12.66±0.86 kg, 28.15±0.41 days, 412.46±23.10 g and 50.60±2.65 days for ADY, IY, TY, PD, PY and LL, respectively. The body weight and the conformation traits were 20.25±1.08 kg, 57.24±1.57, 24.64±0.73, 51.22±1.45, 24.64±0.73, 51.22±1.45, 71.88±1.08 and 56.49±1.40 cm for BWT, RH, BD, HW, HG and BL, respectively. The phenotypic correlation established between investigated milk traits and body conformation traits was positive (r = 0.011-0.893) except for the relationship with PD which was negative (r = -0.002 to-0.121). The correlation coefficient established between all the conformation traits with ADY, TY and PY were positive and significant (p<0.01). Conclusion: The findings from this study indicate a positive relationship between body conformation traits and milk yield traits and this suggests a level of dependency between these traits. Therefore, any impairment in any one of these traits would elicit a correlated response in the others indicating that these conformation traits can be used as selection criteria in the improvement of milk yield traits in West African Dwarf goats.