Morphometric characterisation of indigenous taurine cattle in their natural environment in Cameroon

Abstract

The morphometric characterisation of indigenous taurine breeds of cattle in their natural environment was undertaken in three agroecological zones of Cameroon. Descriptive traits for 97 animals, such as sex, age, coat colour, skin pigmentation, ear shape, and temperament, were observed visually and recorded for each breed identified. Biometric information was got by measuring body parts such as live weight (LW), body length (BoL), ear length (EL), head length (HL), heart girth (HG), neck length (NL), horn length (HoL), height at wither (HW) and thigh diameter (TD). There was a strong association (P<0.0001) between the breed and the localities. Bakossi breed were dominated by a black/white coat colour while Namchi and Kapsiki breed demonstrated a high coat colour polymorphism. All the taurine had dark skin pigmentation, and 60.83% were docile. Their LW ranged from 199.9 kg (Namchi) to 229.9 kg (Kapsiki), BoL from 116.6 cm (Namchi) to 121.4 cm (Kapsiki), tail length (TL) from 11.1 cm (Kapsiki) to 17.4 cm (Bakossi), HG from 134.4 cm (Namchi) to 142.7 cm (Kapsiki), HoL from 21.4 cm (Bakosi) to 27.3cm (Kapsiki), and HW from 105.0 cm (Namchi) to 116.9 cm (Kapsiki). Apart from LW, BoL, and shoulder length, the other linear body measurements presented significant differences between breeds (<0.05, 0.01). This study provides new information regarding the qualitative and quantitative traits of taurine breeds in Cameroon. Therefore, deep molecular characterisation should be carried out to confirm the breed’s types and possible admixture.