Assessment of genetic improvement strategies, breeding practices, and production objectives of goat production in North Ari District, South Omo Zone, Southern Ethiopia

The study was conducted in the North Ari district south Omo zone, Southern Ethiopia. The study aimed to identify the production objectives of goats, the breeding practices employed, and the traits that farmers preferred. Data were collected from 160 households through semi- structured and structured questionnaires, focal group discussions, and secondary sources. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 29. Income generation was first as productive objectives, followed by milk, meat, wealth saving, culture, and skin respectively. Coat color, body conformation, and body size were the most preferred traits in breeding bucks. In contrast, twining ability, body size, frequent kidding, fast growth rate, milk productions were most preferred traits in breeding does in the study area. Among the farmers 59.4% used uncontrolled mating systems, 24.0% used natural control, and 16.6% used partially control in the district. Neighbors (59.4%) were the primary source of breeding bucks in the research area, followed by respondents' own breeding bucks (37.5%) and communal bucks (1.9%). Goat health challenges identified in the study area were foot rot (30.6%), contagious ecthyma (29.4%), and goat pox (18.8%). Response rate was 100% and non-respose rate was 0%. Farmers used flock and reproductive parameters informally to inform mating and selection decisions. From the current study, it could be concluded that the methods of genetic improvement, breeding practice, and trait preference of farmers in the study area were traditional. Therefore, further investigation should be undertaken to improve the genetic makeup of indigenous goat breeds.