ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Anim. Sci.
Sec. Animal Breeding and Genetics
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fanim.2025.1565748
This article is part of the Research TopicCharacterization of Local Farm Animal Genetic Diversity for Better Resource Use and Climate Change AdaptationView all 3 articles
Qualitative and Quantitative Characterization of Surma Cattle Population in Bench Maji Zone, Southwest Ethiopia
Provisionally accepted
- 1Federal Technical and Vocational Education and Training Institute (FTVETI), Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- 2Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- 3Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
- 4Debre Markos University, Debre Marqos, Ethiopia
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The Surma cattle population is one of the Ethiopian indigenous cattle populations with valuable qualitative and quantitative traits. This study aimed to identify the phenotypic characteristics of the Surma cattle population under farmers’ management conditions. A total of 384 Surma cattle were sampled randomly for the study of phenotypic traits. A purposive, multi-stage stratified random sampling technique was used to determine the number of districts, Kebeles, and households. Data were gathered through field observations and linear body measurements from the study populations depending on sex, district, and production system. The coat color of Surma cattle was spotted (82%), followed by patchy (12.2%) and plain (5.2%). The overall means of body weight (BW), chest girth (CG), body length (BL), and height at the withers(HW), rump height (RH), rump length (RL), ear length (EL), and horn length (HL) were 223.54±20 kg, 149.15±7.16 cm, 108.60±7.3 cm, 112.65±7.5 cm, 111.34±7.11 cm, 20.05±1.6 cm, 18.48±1.25 cm, and 25.00±6.6 cm, respectively. The quantitative variables were significantly (p< 0.05) different between production systems except for HL and EL, and all the measurements were significant (p< 0.05) between sexes. This study provided basic phenotypic information about Surma cattle for the first time, which is important for genetic study, conservation, and breed improvement. The Surma breed has a huge and well-framed body size in both male and female animals; this indicates that these breeds may be used for beef breed improvement.
Keywords: phenotype, Qualitative, quantitative, characterization, Surma cattle
Received: 23 Jan 2025; Accepted: 06 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fetene, Alemayehu, Kebede and TESHALE. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: DEREJE BIRARA TESHALE, Debre Markos University, Debre Marqos, Ethiopia
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