a b s t r a c tA total of 6440 female sheep from Burkina Faso were scored for seven body measurements and four qualitative morphological traits. Sampling included the three main environmental areas and sheep breeds of Burkina Faso: the Sahel area (Burkina-Sahel sheep), the SudanSahel area (Mossi sheep) and the Sudan area (Djallonké sheep). Canonical analyses showed that differences in body measurements between the Sudan and the Sudan-Sahel sheep were small even though most body traits showed higher average values in the Burkina-Sahel sheep: the shortest Mahalanobis distance was found between the Sudan and the SudanSahel populations (1.54), whilst that between the Sudan and the Sahelian populations was the largest (7.88). Discriminant analysis showed that most Sudan (Djallonké) individuals (60.85%) were classified as Sudan-Sahel (Mossi) individuals whilst most Burkina-Sahel individuals were classified into their environmental area of sampling (89.46%). Correspondence analyses indicated that the Burkina-Sahel sheep population clustered together with dropping ears, black and brown colour patterns and presence of wattles, the Sudan sheep were closely associated with long hair and vertical and curled ears and that the Sudan-Sahel sheep did not have clear associations with qualitative phenotypic traits. At the morphological level, the Sudan-Sahel (Mossi) sheep population can be considered a geographical subpopulation belonging to the Djallonké breed, showing some particularities, namely larger body size, due to the particular environmental condition of the area in which it is managed and a continuous gene flow from Sahelian sheep, The information reported in this study will be the basis for the establishment of further characterization, conservation and selection strategies for Burkina Faso sheep.

A total of 10,147 female goats from Burkina Faso were scored for 7 body measures and 12 qualitative traits. Sampling included the three main environmental areas and goat breeds of Burkina Faso: the Sahel area (Sahelian goat), the Sudan-Sahel area (Mossi goat) and the Sudan area (Djallonké goat). Overall, the Sahelian goat had the highest values for the all the analysed body measures. Differences between the Sudan and the Sudan-Sahel goat were little. The Burkina Faso goat is mainly spotted (61.92 %) with horns type "Spanish Ibex" (84.05 %), frequent absence of beard (75.33 %) and wattles (70.92 %) and poorly developed udder (73.72 %). The Sahelian population included most individuals with dropping (95.60 %) and curled (73.62 %) ears, whilst most Sudan-Sahel individuals had horizontal ears (73.14 %) and most Sudan individuals had vertical ears (97.88 %). The largest Mahalanobis distance was found between the Sahelian and Sudan areas (7.50) whilst the Sudan and the Sudan-Sahel populations were poorly differentiated (1.15). Discriminant analysis showed that most Sahel and Sudan-Sahel individuals were classified into their source population (79.29 % and 82.69 %) whilst the Sudan individuals (93.40 %) were classified as Sudan-Sahel individuals. Both the canonical and the correspondence analyses showed that the Sahelian and Sudan individuals tended to cluster separately whilst the Sudan-Sahel individuals showed an intermediate distribution but clearly biased toward the Sudan individuals. The Sudan-Sahel (Mossi) population can be considered a result from the genetic contact between Sahelians and Sudan goats Keywords: Djallonké goat, Mossi goat, Sahel goat, Africa, local breed, morphological traits, genetic resources ZusammenfassungTitel der Arbeit: Multivariate Analyse von morphologischen Merkmalen der Burkina-Faso-Ziege An insgesamt 10.147 weiblichen Ziegen aus Burkina Faso wurden 7 Körpermaße und 12 qualitative Merkmale bewertet. Die Probennahme wurde in den drei Haupthabitaten an den wichtigsten Ziegenrassen von Burkina Faso durchgeführt: Sahelzone (Sahel-Ziege), Sudan-Sahelzone (Mossi-Ziege) und Sudangebiet (Djallonké-Ziege). Insgesamt erreichte die Sahel-Ziege die höchsten Werte bei allen untersuchten Körpermaßen. Die Unterschiede zwischen der Sudan-Ziege und der Sudan-Sahel-Ziege waren gering. Die Burkina-Faso-Ziege ist überwiegend gefleckt (61.92 %), mit Hörnern vom Typ "Spanish Ibex" (84.05 %), häufig bartlos (75.33 %) und ohne Kehllappen (70.92 %) sowie unzureichend entwickeltem Euter (73.72 %). Die meisten der Individuen der Sahel-Population wiesen hängende (95.60 %) und gekrauste Ohren (73.62 %) auf, während die meisten der Individuen aus der Sudan-Sahel-Zone waagerechte Ohren (73.14 %) und die Mehrheit der Individuen aus dem Sudangebiet aufrecht stehende Ohren (97.88 %) hatten. Die größte Mahalanobis-Distanz wurden zwischen den Sahel-und Sudangebieten gefunden (7,50), während sich die Sudan-und Sudan-Sahel-Populationen nur geringfügig voneinander unterschieden (1,15). Diskriminanzanalysen zeigten, d...

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A study was carried out in the dry season, from October 1993 to May 1994 at an institutional farm in Niono (14º5’N, 6ºE, 295 m), on the Sahelian border of Mali with a semi-arid climate. Thirty-four local Sahelian goats in their first to fifth lactation weighing about 27 kg were used. Eleven of them suckled twin and 23 suckled single kids. The does were herded on natural rangeland for 8 to 9 h/day and received no food supplements. Dry season forage mass, intake and nutritive value of diets selected by goats, milk yield and effects on kids’ growth were measured.The vegetation cover consisted of a herbaceous stratum dominated by annual gramineae plants and a woody stratum composed of 26 species of plants, whose relative abundance varied according to the topography and soil type. The goats spent between 0·126 (early dry season) and 0·004 (late dry season) of grazing time on herbaceous cover and the remaining time on consuming leaves, flowers and fruits of woody plants. The phytomass decreased as the dry season advanced. However, nutrient intake was relatively constant during the course of the study period, as the goats compensated for low biomass by walking more and grazing larger areas and for longer periods. On average, goats selected diets with 121 g crude protein and 7·6 MJ metabolizable energy per kg dry matter.The milk yield and milk fat were measured weekly for 29 weeks but data for only 12 weeks are interpreted and discussed. Mean daily actual and fat-corrected milk (40 g fat per kg milk) production for the first 12 weeks of lactation was 692 (s.e. 139) g and 627 (s.e. 73) g respectively. The milk yield was maximum in the 1st week of lactation followed by a gradual decline. Milk yield was affected by litter size, number of lactation, weight and age of does at parturition. The does with twin kids produced significantly more milk (762 (s.e. 110) g/day) than the does with singles (656 (s.e. 158) g/day) (P < 0·05). The milk yield increased from the first lactation (542 (s.e. 49) g/day) to the third lactation (739 (s.e. 49) g/day) (P < 0·05) with no difference between the third and fifth lactation. Does over 27 kg produced more milk than those under 27 kg (P < 0·001) and does over 2·5 years produced more milk than younger does (P < 0·01). Milk fat was inversely related to milk production. Kids born as singles were heavier (2194 (s.e. 76) g) than those born as twins (1966 (s.e. 78) g) (P < 0·05). The kid growth rate was affected by birth weight (P < 0·001) and milk yield of dams (P < 0·01). Within litter size (single or twins), sex had no significant effect on the growth rate of kids, however the singles grew faster than twins (P < 0·001) throughout the 12 weeks of measurement. Single kids were 1·41 times as heavy as twins at 12 weeks.It is concluded that, the milk yield of does and weight gain of kids under the precarious feeding conditions of the study indicate that the local goats monitored were adapted to local harsh conditions. Nutrition has been regarded as the main constraint to goat production from the range in the dry season. Further specific studies are needed to overcome the dry season nutritional stress and to improve goat production.

To better understand the relative importance of the multi-purpose functions of small ruminants for their urban owners and related breeding practices including selection criteria, we undertook a comparative analysis across the West African cities of Kano (Nigeria), Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) and Sikasso (Mali). Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect the required information from 301 sheep farmers (100, 102 and 99 in Kano, Bobo Dioulasso and Sikasso) and 306 goat farmers (100, 99 and 107 in Kano, Bobo Dioulasso and Sikasso). Sheep and goats were kept for a variety of reasons including income generation, insurance (sale for cash to meet unexpected expenditures) and economic security (sale for cash to support foreseeable expenses), social/religious functions and prestige in ownership. The relative importance given by respondents to the different functions varied significantly (p < 0.001) across cities and between species within a city. However, irrespective of city, both species were primarily kept for their financial functions whereby sheep were perceived as having higher economic value. Although breeding practices were very similar in many respects (low practice of castration, culling and replacement strategies, uncontrolled mating, no record keeping and selection criteria), the emphasis put on each selection criteria varied across cities and between species. Irrespective of city, most of the goats were of the indigenous type while keeping crossbred animals and/or maintaining more than one genotype in the same flock was more commonly practiced by sheep keepers. This points to a higher motivation for strategic breeding among sheep than goat keepers and indicates that the former might be interested in joining carefully designed participatory flock improvement programs.