PHENOTYPIC DIVERSITY OF FIVE GOAT POPULATIONS IN TROPICAL ENVIRONMENTArsyad Alawiansyah, Richi Yuliavian Kusminanto, Nuzul Widyas, Ahmad Pramono, Muhammad Cahyadi and SutarnoAbstract Phenotype characteristic is observable traits such as morphology which is affected by genetic code,environment factor and their interaction. This study observed phenotypic diversity of five goat populations which are developed under Indonesian tropical environment. A total of 55 goats from five domesticated breeds have been used for morphological observation. They were Peranakan Etawa (PE) goat, Boer goat, Bligon (Jawa Randu) goat, Kacang goat, and crossbred Boer and Jawa Randu goat (abbreviated as Boerja).The phenotypic traits observed in this study were body weight (BW), chest girth (CG), body length (BL),withers height (WH), and coat color. Those data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (one way ANOVA) with alpha at 5% level and Tukeyâs test was also performed to differentiate among goat breeds. Moreover, cluster analysis of k-means method was carried out to evaluate distribution pattern of phenotypic traits of five populations. The results showed that quantitative traits observed in this study were significantly different among goat breeds (P<0.05). PE, Boer and crossbred goats containing their DNA (Jawa Randu and Boerja) had higher BW, CG, BL, and WH than Kacang goats. Mix white and brown coat colors was found in most of Boer, Boerja, and Jawa Randu goat populations, on the other hand Kacang goat had mix black and brown coat color, and mix black and white coat color was found in PE goat population.In addition, BW was significantly correlated with CG, BL and WH traits. The Pearson correlations were 0.78, 0.67, and 0.44, respectively. In term of cluster analysis, WH and CG traits clearly clustered among goat populations. These results suggested that five goat populations developing in Indonesia were phenotypically diverse. |