Characterization of the Criollo goat of Northwest Argentina

[paper presented at the Ibero-American Symposium "Conservation of Zootechnical Resources"]

Abstract

There is an increased need to establish the actual animal genetic resources and to develop strategies for their conservation and development. The goal of this work is to descriptive the population of Creole goats in the northwest Argentina (NWA) using genetic, morphological and zoometric information. For this, 1105 adult Creole goats and 36 Saanen and 24 Anglo Nubian from Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán and Santiago del Estero provinces were tested. Twenty microsatellites were used, 20 zoometric and 14 morphological variables were measured in each animal. With the molecular data we found that about 89% of the total genetic variation was due to the genetic differentiation within each breed. Creole goats have higher number of alleles for ach locus (11.8). From the phenotypic information we establish that the Creole goats had minar height and size, small udder, sub concave profile, length and thin neck, vertical ears, spiral horn shape, short hair with longer one in rumps and various hoof color and black mucosa. Ear size, shin circumference, live weight, udder implantation, coat color, presence of wattles, cranial profile, type and position of ears and horn shape, were the parameter with major contribution to distinguish between breeds.