Table 7 - Least square means (cm) and pairwise comparison of body measurements with standard error in each
districts.
Sampled Location /District
Traits
p value
Guba
58
Menge
84
Wenbera
89
Sirba Abay
59
Kurmuk
33
N
Heart girth
108.7±0.81
100.2±0.69
101.9±0.71
102.7±0.70
89.0±0.77ab
66.8±0.62ab
49.8±0.59ab
43.3±0.30a
31.8±0.30
69.5±0.65a
32.5±0.31
22.7±0.25
49.0±0.39
23.7±0.23
24.8±0.25a
120.2±2.48
108.8±0.64
100.4±0.55
101.7±0.56
102.1±0.56
89.8±0.61ab
66.4±0.49b
48.1±0.47b
43.6±0.24a
31.2±0.24
69.1±0.52a
32.6±0.25
22.5±0.20
49.9±0.31
23.9±0.18
23.8±0.20b
121.1±1.88
108.5±0.68
99.9±0.58
101.9±0.59
101.8±0.59
88.5±0.64b
66.4±0.52b
49.0±0.49ab
43.0±0.25a
31.5±0.25
66.1±0.55b
32.5±0.26
21.9±0.21
49.2±0.32
23.8±0.19
23.9±0.21b
119.4±1.98
109.7±0.77
101.8±0.66
102.8±0.68
103.1±0.67
91.3±0.73a
68.4±0.59a
49.9±0.56a
41.9±0.28b
31.7±0.29
69.2±0.62a
31.6±0.30
22.3±0.24
48.9±0.37
23.7±0.22
24.3±0.24ab
124.8±2.25
107.1±0.97
99.8±0.83
102.4±0.86
102.1±0.85
90.0±0.93ab
65.9±0.74b
49.3±0.71ab
43.7±0.36a
32.1±0.36
69.1±0.79a
32.5±0.37
22.3±0.30
49.5±0.47
23.9±0.27
23.9±0.31ab
117.5±2.85
NS
NS
NS
NS
*
*
*
***
NS
***
NS
NS
NS
NS
**
NS
Height at wither
Height at back
Height at rump
Body length
Back length
Neck length
Head length
Canon bone length
Fore leg length
Hip width
Chest width
Chest depth
Canon circumference
Ear length
Body weight
N= Number of observations, *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.0001, NS=Not Significant
Qualitative characteristics
The qualitative characteristics of the studied donkey population under the effect of breed, sex and source of the
animals is presented in Table 8 and 9. Genotype and environmental factors like sex, animal source and district affects the
qualitative characteristics of the studied donkeys. The donkey populations studied possess the following qualitative
characteristics; white abdominal color, unpigmented hoof and muzzle, short and medium hair coat cover, plain body color
pattern with long dorsal stripe (leg stripe in some cases), straight face and sloppy rump profile, medium tail length and
thickness at the base of the tail. The studied qualitative characteristics were affected by different genetic and
environmental factors. Breed group has a significant effect on the studied traits except on coat description, abdominal
color, face profile and tail length while sex affects few of the qualitative characteristics recorded like coat description,
back profile and tail thickness at the base. Similarly source of the animal affects most of the traits except body color
pattern, ear shape, leg strip and rump profile.
The results showed dorsal body color of the studied donkey populations was affected (P<0.05) by breed group of the
donkeys. Based on this result, dorsal body color of Sinnar donkeys were 18% brown, 17% dark brown, 15% white, 13%
light red, 8% dark gray, 8% gray dun and 21% others. While the locals were 24% gray dun, 23% bay dun, 16% dark gray
dun, 13% gray/roan, 9% brown and 15% others. Similarly, the crossbreds were 22% bay dun, 22% dark gray dun, 17%
light red, 11% black, 11% dark brown and 17% other colors. The head color of the Sinnar donkeys was 31% white, 11%
brown, 10% light red, 10% dark brown, 9% black and 29% others. However, the head color of the local donkeys was 21%
gray dun, 18% bay dun, 16% dark gray dun, 14% gray/roan, 10% brown and 21% others. The crossbreds were also 28%
dark gray dun, 17% bay dun, 17% white, 11% light red, 11% dark brown, 11% gray/roan and 5% others in head color. The
ear tips color of Sinnar donkeys was 47% dark brown, 21% black, 10% brown, 9% light red and 13% others, while the
local donkeys were 63% dark brown, 28% black and 9% other colors. Similarly, the crossbreds were 44% dark brown,
39% black and 17% other in colors of their ear tips. The dominant tail switch color of the studied donkeys was black, with
dark brown; almost all (89%) of the crossbreds possess black tail switch color, similarly most (81%) of the locals tail
switch color was black with 16% dark brown. The results also showed that 60% of the Sinnar donkeys had black tail
switch color with 20% dark brown and 20% other colors.
The study revealed that local and cross donkeys possess plain body color pattern while some of the Sinnar donkeys
were shaded. Almost 70 percent of the Sinnar donkey breeds ear shape was round edged while most of the local and
crossbreds ear was straight edged in shape. Almost all local (93%) and crossbreds (83%) possess long dorsal stripe while
this feature was observed on half of the Sinnar donkey breeds. 40 % of the local donkeys had leg stipe, however, it was
not seen on most of the Sinnar and its crossbred donkeys. Most local donkeys and the crossbreds had either short or long
shoulder stripe, while, it was absent on more than half of the Sinnar donkeys. Almost 50% of the Sinnar donkeys back
profile was convex, however, in most of the crossbreds and local donkeys it was hollow.
The results also showed that most of the short coat hair size was possessed by jacks while the jennets had medium
coat description. Most of the jacks back profile was hollow while the jennets were hollow. Most of the jacks had small to
medium thickness at the base of their tail, however it was medium to large for the jennets. Purchased animals had short
coat hair size while the born ones had medium coat description.
There was no dorsal stripe on half of the purchased donkeys while half of them possess long. On the other hand,
most of the donkeys born on-farm possess long dorsal stripe. Similarly, there was no shoulder stripe on more than half
(52%) of the purchased donkeys while there was either short or long shoulder stripe for the donkeys born there. Most of
the purchased donkeys back profile was convex while half of the borne ones possess hollow back profile. Short and
medium tail length was observed on the donkeys born there while the purchased donkeys tail length was medium to long.
30
Citation: Mustefa A, Assefa A, Misganaw M, Getachew F, Abegaz S, Hailu A and Emshaw Y (2020). Phenotypic characterization of donkeys in Benishangul Gumuz
National Regional State. Online J. Anim. Feed Res., 10 (1): 25-35.www.ojafr.ir