Evaluation of breeding practices and morphological characterization of donkeys in Blouberg Local Municipality, Limpopo province: Implication for the design of community-based breeding programme

Identification of livestock farmers’ breeding practices and morphological characterization of livestock are the important first steps to the successful implementation of any breeding programme. Community-based breeding programme (CBBP) has gained attention as a promising method for the genetic improvement of livestock but lacks information on donkey breeding. The study was conducted to identify donkey farmers’ breeding practices and donkey morphological characterization in three purposely selected villages (Thorne, Archibalt and Genau) located in Blouberg Local Municipality, Limpopo province of South Africa. Questionnaire survey method was used to collect the data from twenty-one donkey farmers while body weight and seventeen morphological traits were measured for the morphological characterization from seventy-four donkeys. Descriptive statistics and index values were computed to describe donkey breeding practices. Chi-square statistics were used to compare categorical variables among villages. General Linear Model procedure was used to compare morphological characteristics of donkeys among villages. The results revealed that there was no statistical different (P>0.05) observed on socio-economic characteristics of donkey farmers except on education level (P<0.05) among villages. Purpose of keeping donkeys, type of donkey breed kept, donkey coat colours, mating systems, reasons for culling, mating seasons and selection criterions were not significantly different (P>0.05) among villages. The most common trait preferences of donkey farmers among the surveyed villages were body size and growth rate in breeding males while in breeding females were body size, twining ability and mothering ability. The results indicated that in all the eighteen measured traits only four showed a significant difference (P<0.05) among the villages and some were significantly correlated with body weight (P<0.05). The results of this study will serves as basis for the development and implementation of CBBPs for donkey farmers at Blouberg Local Municipality of South Africa.