Genetic resources on goat in India: A review

In India, the agricultural sector in general and livestock sector in particular acts as a backbone of the nation’s economy. However, the distribution pattern of various livestock species varies among different parts w.r.t topography and socioeconomic status. The goat, commonly known as poor man’s cow, acts as a source of crop insurance and supplementary income along with nutritional security for lower/poor/small and marginal farmers. The profitable goat production depends on the four basic pillars of management i.e. breeding, feeding, housing and disease management. Moreover, it is well known fact that production is inversely associated with reproduction. Therefore, more the balance between production and reproduction, better will be the animal’s performance. Thus, it becomes inevitable to determine the performance characteristics of each breeds of goat, hence the present paper describes the identification characteristics along with production and reproduction characteristics of various valuable germplasm of goats available in different parts of India.