The Choice of Breeding Objectives and Selection Criteria Decided by Breeders of Various Goat Breeds and Factors Influencing Them

Knowledge of breeding objectives and selection criteria is essential for a successful breeding program, a questionnaire was prepared, and distributed among breeders of various goat breeds in Abu-Dhabi Emirate to explore their breeding objectives and selection criteria. A total of 293 different goat breeds herds with a total of 49911 heads of goats were investigated. The results suggest that goat breeders in UAE are breeding goats mainly for meat production (94%), adaptability to environment (40%), and disease resistance (35%). Only few breeders considered milk production (21%) as breeding objective. Factors influenced breeders’ decision on breeding objectives were breed of goat, region, property type, and herd size. Nine out of the twelve doe selection criteria chosen by goat breeders are considered objective selection criteria and only three are subjective selection criteria. Growth rate, fertility, twining ability and body morphology selection criteria were considered the most important on the average by Emirati goat breeders with a medium proportion (60-65%). Goat breeders have put slightly more pressure on buck subjective criteria. The most important buck selection criteria was growth rate (80%) and body morphology selection criterion (76%) then fertility, buck being one of twins and breed purity with averages in 50-55%. Although; increasing meat production was the main breeding objective, an effective breeding program must incorporate different selection criteria for does and bucks considering differences in breeds, regions, property types and herd sizes.