Survey of habitat and body weight and measurements of Pallai ADU goats of Tamil Nadu

A survey was carried out to document the habitat, body weights and measurements of Pallai Adu goats of Tamil Nadu. Body weights and measurements of 270 goats of different age groups and two sexes were recorded from 38 herds in 24 villages. Pallai Adu goats inhabit Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts of Tamil Nadu. They are small-sized animals with varied coat colours ranging from black, black and brown, admixtures of black and brown to complete brown. They are reared mainly for meat purpose. The average body weights of male and female goats at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age were 7.10±0.18 and 6.20±0.29, 11.00±0.23 and 10.10±0.23, 13.10±0.28 and 11.40±0.18 and 15.20±0.85 and 14.00±0.6 kg respectively. The average height at withers, body length, chest girth, in adult males were 65.80±1.04, 63.2±0.69, 67.80±0.82 cm and in adult females they were 57.50±0.65, 59.10±0.44, 62.4±0.69 cm, respectively. The study revealed that Pallai Adu is one of the important goat germplasms for meat production in the region and needs to be conserved and protected from indiscriminate and uncontrolled breeding.