ABSTRACT

Goat (Capra hircus) is one of the oldest domesticated livestock, which belongs to the order artiodactyla, suborder ruminanta and family Bovidae; they are considered to have existed in the mountain area of Western Asia in the seventh and ninth millennium BC (Jiwuba et al., 2018a). Since history, goat production has fulfilled important economic and social function in Nigeria due to their position as source of income and protein for the teeming countries’ population (Jiwuba et al., 2017). The number of goats has increased by almost 50% at world level, cattle increased by 9% whereas sheep decreased by 4% (Morand- Fehr and Boyazogly, 1999; Devendra, 2001); thus confirming goats as an inestimable livestock of importance. The demand for goat meat is very high (Odeyinka, 2000) and often command higher market price than beef, pork and chicken. Idiong and Orok (2008) attributed the preferable of goat meat to those from other animal species because of its flavour, tenderness and palatability. In the rainforest ecological zone of Nigeria, West African Dwarf (WAD) goat predominates.