Caracterização morfoestrutural e do sistema de criação da raça Moxotó em seu centro de origem com base no conhecimento local

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize the breeding system and morphometry of Moxotó goats at the center of origin; record the strategies of choice in breeding livestock as well as highlighting the importance of local knowledge in the management of the genetic variability of the breed. 17 farmers were included in the study, with ages ranging from 19 to 84 years. These were divided into 3 groups according to racial type they reared. Free and semi-structured interviews were conducted to assess the breeding system and the criteria for selection of breeding animals. There were evaluated 11 morphometric measurements: longitude head (LH), longitude face (LF), head width (LC), ear size (ES), body length (BL), thoracic perimeter (TP), height withers (HW), height sacral region (HSR), pin width (PW), longitude rump (LH) and perimeter shuttle (PS) and 6 indexes: Index body (IB), Index of chest perimeter (ICP), Cephalic Index (CI), metacarpo-thoracic index (MTI), and transverse-pelvic index (TPI). There was no significant effect of locality, gender and age on these variables. The animals evaluated in this study were classified as dolichocephalic, medium shape, with legs, chest and well developed skeleton and dual-purpose (meat and milk) according to the evaluated indexes. The principal component analysis revealed the variables LH, TP, WH, BL, LC, PS, HSR, PW and LH as the most important. The study suggests culling in future studies the variables LC and LF once they have had the smallest contribution. It was observed that herds are reared under extensive and communally system. The breeders have their own criteria for selection and culling breeding animals. The racial pattern observed were consistent with the official ones.