Research Article

Phenotypic Characterization, Population Structure and Performance of Local Ladakhi Goats (Capra Hircus)

U Roy^1*, BG Roy², D Gogoi² and R Roy¹

¹Central Institute for Research on Goats, Makhdoom, Farah, Mathura, India

²Defence Institute of High-Altitude Research (DIHAR), India

Submission: September 09, 2024;Published: November 21, 2024

*Corresponding author: Usha Roy, Central Institute for Research on Goats, Makhdoom, Farah, Mathura, India. E-mail: ushabroy@yahoo.co.in

How to cite this article: U Roy, BG Roy, D Gogoi, R Roy. Phenotypic Characterization, Population Structure and Performance of Local Ladakhi Goats 002 (Capra Hircus). Arch Anim Poult Sci. 2024; 2(5): 555599. DOI: 10.19080/AAPS.2024.02.555599

Abstract

The present study aims to characterize the local goats of Ladakh. Information on goat population, rearing and grazing practices were obtained from four villages of Nubra valley through onsite interview of goat keepers. Body parameters and production traits were recorded on 77 goats. Local goats thrive well in harsh agro-climatic conditions with minimum resources in low elevation villages. Farmers keep small herd size along with other livestock in houses made of mud bricks. The common village lands are used for grazing in winter and high elevation pasture are used in summer. Tree leaves, Lucern and Seabuckthon bushes are their staple feed. Goats were medium in size with long hair coat. Coat colour varied from one plain to bricoleurs of white, brown and black. The goats were clearly distinctive with white (40%), white brown (40%), white black (15%) and admixture of black, brown and white coat colour (5%). The length of horn varied from 12cm to 23cm with clear distinction of annual rings. Horns were curved upward and backward. Mean body weight, body length, height and heart girth of adult male and female goats were 26.0kg, 21.0kg; 54.38cm, 53.85cm; 52.64cm, 48.95cm and 62.13cm, 60.82cm respectively. Twinning rate and milk yield was found to be very low.

Keywords: Local Ladakhi Goat; Phenotypic Traits; Production Traits

Abbreviation: Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Introduction

Goats are the most adaptable and geographically wide spread livestock species, ranging from the mountains of Siberia to the deserts and tropics of Africa. Goats are valuable source of income for weaker section of the people. They are considered as the poor man’s cow and reared by landless, small and marginal farmers of the country. Goats contribute more than Rs. 38,590 crores to the national economy, which is around 8.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) of livestock sector in India. India is a rich repository of goat germ plasm with 37 recognized breeds [1], which constitute about 36.5 % of the total goat population and remaining are non-descript goats having mixed features. Non-descript / local goats are important due to their potential for feed utilization, resistance to diseases, stress and source for unique genes. The wide range of local genotype with unknown or unrealized potential are in danger of being extinct due to changes in production environment and social demand. The characterization of domestic animals is the first step in considering the sustainable management or conservation of particular population. It is important to know how unique or how different it is from other populations. Goats have been characterized based on their distribution, habitat, morphological traits, production performance and reproduction behaviour. The present study had been planned to characterize the local goat resources available at low elevation villages of Nubra valley in Ladakh.

Materials and Methods

Sampling

The villages surveyed were Hunder, Skampuk, Partapur and Diskit of Nubra Valley, Ladakh. Altitude of the villages varied from 9,000 to 10,500 feet. The field condition was characterized by analysing housing pattern, biomass availability and grazing pattern. The information on Local Ladakhi goats was collected from both small and large-scale farmers and 65 animals were included in the study. The records were collected through interviews with village farmers. The records included body weight, heart girth, belly girth, body length, height etc. The data was analysed statistically to estimate Least Squares Means of the traits.

Results and Discussion

Geographical distribution and habitat

The Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is an isolated pocket with a distinct locally adapted local Ladakhi goat, popularly known as Marla’s goat in Nubra valley. Ladakh is sandwiched between the Kuen Lun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south. Ladakh is India’s highest plateau with much of it being over 3,000m (9,800ft) [2] (Figure 1). It spans the Himalayan and Karakoram Mountain ranges and the upper Indus River valley. Ladakh includes the fairly populous main Indus valley, the more remote Zanskar (in the south) and Nubra Valleys (to the north over Khar dung La), the almost deserted Aksai Chin, and Cargill and Suru Valley areas to the west where the temperature varies from –40ᵒC to 32ᵒC.

The harsh climatic conditions of Ladakh includes low winter temperature (-20ᵒC), hot summers (32ᵒC), low partial pressure of oxygen (30% less), low relative humidity (30-60%), high wind velocity, high influx of Infra-Red (IR) and Ultra Violet (UV) radiations. Ladakh is one of the high altitudes (10,000-18,000ft from mean sea level), located between (30ᵒC- 60ᵒC) latitude and (75ᵒC-81ᵒC) longitude. Ladakh is the cold and arid region of the country where, cultivation of fodder crops is limited due to short cultivation period (April- September) and harsh agro-climatic conditions. Rainfall is sparse (30-40 mm/year) and the landscape is barren due to its aridity. The soil is suitable for cultivation of cereal crops like Wheat and Barley. Barley is the major cereal crop followed by Wheat. Livestock production systems in Ladakh are adapted to the harsh environmental conditions. Natural vegetation production is low, thus animals that can survive on the limited biomass are available. Lucerne is the only cultivated fodder crop. Seabuckthorn (Hippopheae rhamnoides) shrub is the most widely foraged plant for goats. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa, M. faleata and M. media) are grown as the main fodder crop for goats. More farmers are opting for alfalfa as a cash crop, which is a perennial and require only one initial planting. Seabuckthorn, Eurotia, Ceratoids, Mycaria, Salix and Astragalus sp. are the most nutritious grasses for goats. The important pasture species found in the area are Poa pratensis, Festuca rubra, Bromus macrostachy, Elymus sibiricus, Agropyron lange-aristatum, legumes were Astragalus tribulifolius, Oxytropis microphylla, Cicer microphylum and bushes were Caragana vesicolor, Myricaria germonica, Myricaria prostrate [3]. The major vegetation comprises of Willow tree, Popular tree, Apricot tree, Apple tree and Seabuckthorn.

Flock size

Goat keepers prefer to keep small flocks due to less vegetation available for goat grazing. The small herds are also preferred due to limited feeding resources and the low availability of manpower. The herd size varied from 10-20. Goat herds were maintained in an extensive system with 7 to 9 hour/day grazing in different seasons (Figure 2a & b).

Housing

Goats are kept mostly in day time in an open corral of a construction made of thorns/bushes mud wall fence attached to their home for shorter period (morning- 6 to 9 am and evening- 4 to 6 pm). The livestock sheds are made of non-baked earth bricks/ stones/ mud, roofed with wooden sheets/ logs/ grasses (Figure 3a & b). Goats are kept at night in the same shed with sheep, cattle and other livestock. No special emphasis is given on construction of separate goat house.

Feeding

The goats are kept on grazing in fallow lands for 6-8 hours per day in different seasons. As agriculture activity ceases in winter, goats are allowed to graze on the dry left-over vegetation in the fields. In summer (May to August), single family member takes village goat flocks to high elevation summer pasture lands on a rotational basis. They are stall fed during severe winter days on willow tree leaves, stalks of cereal crops, Alfalfa (Medicago sativa. M. falcate and M. media) and other plant residues in morning and evening. Supplementation of local barley, oat and wheat are given during kidding and lactation period only.

Physical characterization

Local Ladakhi goats are medium sized goat with long hair coat. Coat colour varies from one plain to bricoleurs of white, brown, white-brown, white-black and multi colour of combination pattern are also observed in the natural habitat. These goats are clearly distinctive with white (40%), white brown (40%), white black (15%) and admixture of black, brown and white coat colour (5%). White-brown and White-black being the most common coat colour (Figure 4a, b & c). Brown and black patches were commonly observed on neck and head region. The body coat was predominantly hairy, rough, long and generally sweeping downward. Males and females were observed to have more pronounced ridges of hairs at neck, withers and belly hanging downward. Forelegs up to knee joint and hind legs up to hock joints covered with long hair. Ears were medium in length mostly straight, drooping and laterally curved in few cases. The length of ear and tail was more or less constant and no appreciable difference was noticed with age and sex of goats. The colour of ear varied from white, white-brown to brown. (Table 1) presents the mean values of phenotypic traits at different ages in both sexes of Local Ladakhi goat. Horns were observed in both male & female and the length of horn varied from 12cm to 23cm with clear distinction of annual rings. Horns were long and medium, curved upward and backward. Ear length varied from 10.84cm to 12.75cm. Body length of Local Ladakh goats varied from 45.64cm to 62.50cm. The Local Ladakhi goat is slightly larger in body length than Changthangi breed [4] and similar with Chegu breed [5]. Tail length varied from 9.44cm to 11.25cm. Heart girth varied from 53.04cm to 67.38cm. Belly girth varied from 61.68cm to 81.75cm. Mouth length varied from 16.28cm to 21.75cm. As, references on local goats of Ladakh are limited, therefore it is difficult to compare the present findings with the published literature.

Production Performance

Body weight of adult male and female were 26.0kg and 21.0kg respectively. Body weights at different ages have been shown in (Table 2). The body weight was lower than Changthangi [6]. Milk yield was very low and inadequate to feed the kids even during weaning period. Milk yield was about 50- 100ml/ day. Mostly single birth (98%) and very low twining rate (2%) was observed in the population. The twinning rate was observed to be higher than the results reported by Misra et al. [4] and Bhattacharya et al. [6]. The local goats also give Pashmina as the undercoat, however, the yield and quality varies with the altitude and rearing practices. In Nubra valley, local goats are mainly kept for farm yard manure and meat purposes. Now a day, these goats are seldom used for harvesting pashmina by goat keepers.

Introduction

Local Ladakhi goat is a medium sized, Pashmina producing goat with long hair coat. Coat colour varied from white to brown and combination of them. These goats were clearly distinctive with white (40%), white brown (40%), white black (15%) and admixture of black, brown and white coat colour (5%). Body weight of adult male and adult female were 26.0kg and 21.0kg respectively. Milk yield was very low computed as 50-100ml/ day. Mostly single birth (98%) was observed with a very low twining rate (2%) in the population.

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to the Director, CIRG and Director, DIHAR for providing necessary facilities to carry out the work.

References

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4. Misra RK, B Singh, VK Jain (1998) Breed characteristics of Changthangi pashmina goat. Small Ruminant Research 27: 97-102.
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