Evaluation of morphometric characteristics of goats by principal component analysis

A study was conducted to identify the principal components (PCs) for evaluating the morphometric characters of goats. Nine morphometric characters were measured in 1297 adult females of fourteen goat breeds and non-descript population. The degree of harmony in morphometric characters was shown by significant positive correlations (P<0.05). The matrix of variables was reduced using principal component analysis (PCA) based on Kaiser's criteria (eigen value >1). The phenotypic correlations among the characters were from -0.76 to 0.88. Higher correlation was recorded between body weight and chest girth. Low correlations were recorded between body weights with ear length and tail length and moderate correlations with face length and horn length. The total variance ranged from 58.4 to 76.3% in the goat breeds and non-descript population. In all the goat breeds and non-descript population, chest girth, paunch girth, body length, height at withers, face length and body weight were loaded as first PC, while ear length and tail length as second PC. The first PC can be used in phenotypic selection programmes of goats.