Phenotypic Characterization of Some Fulani (Fallata) Sheep Subtypes in South Darfur State

Abstract

A fitted form of detailed structured questionnaire was used to gather information from 200 Fulani sheep owners in Tullus village and its surrounding villages in South Darfur State, to study some field management practices adopted by shepherds and sheep owners and to describe and characterize different Fulani sheep local subtypes in natural habitat in South Darfur State. Two hundred Fulani sheep with average age 3.8 years [38 Umgaba, 37 Alabiad, 25 Abrag, 17 Umkehail, 78 Umsaen and 5 Wadsarari, males (n=64) and females (n=136)] were randomly selected to determine the body measurements using metric tape according to phenotypic characterization of animal genetic resources recommended by FAO (2012), the studied body measurements include: body length, height at wither, heart girth, chest depth, rump length, rump width, head length, head width, ear length, tail length and horn length. The obtained data were summarized in form of descriptive tabular and graphs. Also analysis of variance ANOVA followed by least significant difference (LSD), Independent samples T. test. The results revealed that more than 68% of sheep owners had above 15 years of experience in rearing their animals reflected in their educational level where about 80% of them were either illiterate or had basic or “Khalwa” education. It revealed also the respondents reared mainly sheep beside other farm animals and the Umsaen sheep subtype was the most raised sheep subtype. The results showed that most Fulani subtypes were similar in many morphological features, also it showed that there were local Sudanese names for different Fulani sheep subtypes (Alabiad – Balami), (Umgaba – Uda) and (Umkehail – Yankasa). The majority of sheep owners adopted semi sedentary and open range system (98.5%) and fed their animals with V different kinds of agriculture by-products such as groundnut cake and millet bran. The major priority selection criteria of ewes and rams were size – feature while the main culling criteria were diseases and overage for both ewes and rams. The result showed that the age at first lambing at one year, three to four months was the most weaning age, furthermore, Fulani sheep owners showed that the production age of ram was equivalent the ewe, moreover, they showed that rams were most preferable and higher price in group market followed by ewes, yearling and Lamb. The most frequent diseases among adults and lamb of Fulani Sheep were bacterial diseases and unspecific diarrhea for adults and lambs respectively; also they showed that the main production handicaps of Fulani were diseases, lack of feed, lack of water and predators. Sheep sex had significantly affect (P<0.05) rump length, head length, head width, and horn length (P<0.01). Also sheep subtypes of Fulani had significant effect on height at wither, heart girth, ear length and tail length. The study revealed that Fulani sheep had different colours represented in various subtypes. Fulani sheep subtypes and sex had affected some body measurements