Morphometric characterization of local goats of Karnataka

A total of 991 local goats of different age groups were randomly selected for collecting data on morphometric characters from four agro-climatic zones of Southern Karnataka. The overall average body weights of adult males and females were 21.87±0.54 and 21.19±0.44 kg, respectively and the respective values were 59.37±0.82 and 60.38±0.65 cm for height, 59.93±0.83 and 61.58±0.62 cm for chest girth, 60.03±0.81 and 61.29±0.62 cm for paunch girth and 51.47±0.70 and 53.00±0.54 cm for body length. Pearson correlation analysis of various measures revealed significant (P<0.001) correlation between body weights and other measures. Highest correlation was observed between paunch girth and chest girth (0.944) followed by height and chest girth (0.936).