Phenotypic variation of coat pigmentation and wattle of west african dwarf goats in the sub-humid zone of Nigeria

Eight hundred and twenty West African Dwarf (WAD) goats in the sub-humid zone of Nigeria were purposively sampled for studying the phenotypic variations of coat pigmentation and wattle. Ten coat pigmentation and three wattle incidences were observed in the goat population cludes, white, brown, black, mahogany, badgerface, bezoar swiss marking, grey, black with white markings and brown with white markings while those of wattle were non-wattled, unilateral and bilateral. The coat pigmentation was presumed to be influenced by alleles at three loci (A, B and S) while wattle by alleles at a locus (W, w). Although, black pigmentation and bilateral wattled goats predominated in the population, different coat pigmentation and wattle phenotypes as observed in the goat population indicate that the breed still belongs to a traditional population in which no conscious selection effort has been attempted.