The study area is situated in the Lobi region of Burkina Faso, covering five villages (Batié, Flékora, Gbonkoperou, Gongoblo, and Irnao) in the provinces of Poni and Noumbiel in the southwestern part of the country ( Figure 1 ). The Southwest region is bordered by Ghana to the east, Côte d’Ivoire to the south, the Hauts-Bassins and Cascades regions to the west, and the Boucle du Mouhoun, Centre-Ouest, and

Hauts-Bassins regions to the north, according to the information provided by [7] . The Southwest region is very rugged. The majority of the region is made up of hills, mountains, and plateaux with an average altitude of 450 m. The relief comprises vast plains, lowlands, hills, and hillocks. The average altitude of the hills ranges between 300 and 500 m [7] . The region’s hydrography is very rich.

The southwest region is covered by two watersheds: the Mouhoun and the Comoé. The Mouhoun River is the most influential river in the region. The main fishing ground in the region is the river basin [7] .

Surveys were conducted on 32 herders for 178 Baoule taurine in five villages in Lobi country. Table 1 shows the distribution of these numbers. Breeders were essentially linked to the possession of at least 2 Baoule bulls. From each herd, 1 - 10 animals were selected according to the number of animals in the herd.

A total of 20 variables, including 10 qualitative and 9 quantitative variables, were recorded. Qualitative data were obtained and described by simply observing the participants. Quantitative data were obtained after each animal was restrained. The FAO phenotypic characterisation guide [8] was used to measure morphobiometric traits. Age was estimated on the basis of the dentition. The same operator took measurements early in the morning to avoid feeding and watering effects on the size and conformation. Visibly pregnant females were excluded from the study.

Quantitative morphometrical characteristics were obtained using a measuring tape calibrated in centimetres (cm) after restraining and holding the animals in an unforced position. All measurements were taken by the same team of personnel on all farms. Linear body measurements recorded included chest perimeter (Pth), horn length (LoC), tail length (Qlo), body length (LoCor), ear length (Olo), muzzle circumference (CM), height at wither (HGa), chest depth (PT), and live weight (Pds). The animals’ age was estimated using the dentition method, as suggested by [8] .

Observations of coat colour, eyes, head, muzzle, horn presence, horn shape, ear and horn orientation, dewlap size, head shape, and hair structure were recorded visually.

The collected information was entered into an Excel 2007 database. The effect of locality, gender, and age on the different traits (qualitative and quantitative) was assessed using Pearson’s chi-square test, analysis of variance, Student’s t-test, and GLM. The level of significance used to interpret the statistical tests was set at 5%. The structuring of the morphological diversity of cattle populations due to quantitative traits was assessed using principal component analysis (PCA). Qualitative and quantitative data analyses were performed using R version 3.1.0 (R Core Team, 2014).

Among the Baoule bulls in the zone, coat colours vary greatly ( Figure 2 ). The dominant coat colours are black-pie and piebald-black. The dominant head

colour is black. The frequencies of these different colours calculated are shown in Table 2 . In terms of coat colour, the locality had a significant effect (p = 0.018 94, Chi² test), whereas no significant difference was observed for head colour (p = 0.4226).

**: significant; NS: non-significant.

The muzzle and around the eyes also varied (white, chocolate, fawn, grey, and black). No significant differences were observed between the localities for snout colour (p-value = 0.4932, Chi² test) or eye colour (p-value = 0.3237, Chi² test). The dominant muzzle colours were black and white. The dominant colour around the eyes was black ( Table 3 ).

NS: non-significant.

In Irnao, 12.90% of the observed animals had no horns ( Table 4 ). With regard to horn shape, all shapes were observed in Irnao, with varying frequencies. The dominant type is represented by horns in the “shape of a lunar cross and oriented

**: significant.

forwards”. The frequencies differed significantly at the 5% threshold using the Chi² test ( Table 4 ).

All shapes were observed with varying frequencies in the females. However, only the “lyre horn oriented outwards and then forwards” type was observed in males. The dominant type in both sexes is the “lyre horn oriented outwards then forwards” type. The frequencies did not differ significantly at the 5% threshold using the Chi² test ( Table 5 ).

NS: non-significant.

Across all localities, the quantitative traits measured in Baoule bulls (Pth, LoC, Q, LCO, LO, HG, and PDS) showed a significant difference at the 5% threshold by analysis of variance (ANOVA) for means calculated with p-value < 0.05; except for muzzle circumference where the means were not significantly different between localities at the 5% threshold by ANOVA ( Table 6 ).

Pth: chest perimeter. LoC: horn length. Qlo: tail length. LoCor: body length. Olo: ear length. CM: muzzle circumference. HGa: height at wither. PT: chest depth. Pds: live weight. **: significant.

Sex had no significant effect on the quantitative traits (Pth, LoC, Qlo, LoCor, Olo, CM, HGa, PT, and Pds) ( Table 7 ). The p-values indicate no sexual dimorphism in the cattle studied for these traits.

Pth: chest perimeter, LoC: horn length, Qlo: tail length, LoCor: body length, Olo: ear length, CM: muzzle circumference, HGa: height at wither, PT: chest depth, Pds: live weight. NS: non-significant.

The influence of age on these traits was tested using GLM at only 5%. Age had a significant effect on the quantitative variables measured ( Table 8 ).

Pth: chest perimeter. LoC: horn length. Qlo: tail length. LoCor: body length. Olo: ear length. CM: muzzle circumference. HGa: height at wither. PT: chest depth. Pds: live weight. **: significant.

The KMO index value of 0.89 indicates that the information level accessible through all 9 quantitative variables is compressible. In addition, the highly significant Bartlett’s sphericity test (p-value = 0.000) indicates that the data can be subjected to principal component analysis ( Table 9 ). The Pearson correlation matrix for all morphobiometric characteristics is shown in Figure 3 . Correlations with a significant p-value at the 5% threshold ranged from 0.2 to 0.9. This matrix indicates that all correlations were positive. Highly significant correlations were observed between several pairs of variables. Except for the correlations between ear length and other traits and tail length and other traits, which were not significant.

The PCA results for our entire sample are shown in Figure 4 . Principal component analysis revealed the proportion of variability explained by each of the two factorial axes. They express 74.8% of the phenotypic diversity of Baoule cattle. The PCA performed on the entire population did not reveal any discrimination of the study area population along the axes.

Figure 5 supports the conclusion that no distinct groups exist based on geographical location. The confusion matrix in Table 10 indicates that 45.88% of cases were correctly classified and that 93 individuals (54.12%) were reclassified. This high reclassification rate proves that “location” is not a very influential factor in the grouping of Baoule cattle in southern Burkina Faso. Other intrinsic factors related to the animals or the livestock system may explain the differences in the results.