Phenotypic Characterisation Of Ukerewe And Bunda Tanganyika Shorthorn Zebu Cattle In The Lake Victoria Basin

ABSTRACT 

A study was carried out to characterise phenotypically the Ukerewe TSZ strain in order to know if it differs from the Bunda TSZ strain. Respondents from 46 households were interviewed on sources of income and food, number and species of livestock kept, ranking of livestock, usage of cattle, age at first calving, calving interval and lifetime number of calving. A total of 169 adult TSZ cattle were examined for coat colour pattern, and colours of coat, skin, muzzle, eyelid and hoof. Other traits that were examined are horn shape and sizes of udder, dewlap, testicle, navel-flap and prepuce. Physical body measurements namely body weight, heart girth, body length, withers height, horn length, ear length, muzzle circumference, hock circumference and tail length were taken for each cattle. The SPSS and SAS computer packages were used to analyse qualitative and quantitative data, respectively. Ukerewe TSZ cattle were observed to be significantly (p0.05) differences between the two strains. Black colour occurred at significantly (p