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Marwari, an important dual-purpose (meat and milk) goat breed, is found in great Thar Desert in north-western region of Rajasthan state of India. The breeding tract, runs across 7 districts, viz. Barmer, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jalore, Jodhpur, Naguar and Pali districts of Rajasthan. Information on body length, chest girth, pounch girth, height at wither, height at hip bone and qualitative confirmation attributes along with body weights of 284 animals were recorded. The information on feed, management and breeding practices, flock size and its structure, reproductive performance and disease prevalence in the breeding tract was collected through formal interviews, using a structured questionnaire given to goat owners, chosen at random within a structured, stratified framework. An attempt was also made to find out within breed genetic diversity using microsatellite molecular markers. Marwari goats were medium sized and uniformly black animals with shinny light grey skin. The muzzle, eyelids and hoofs were also black. The horns were small (2") to long,(I V) corkscrew type with greyish black in both the sexes. The horns were curved upward or backward (rare). The pendulous ears were small (Y) to long (9") and speckled, flattened or folded leaf like. The average body weight of 6 months male and female and adult animals were 20.91 and 19.94 kg and 39.51 and 31.86 kg respectively. The milk yield -varied from 0.5 to 1 kg when fed on grazing resources and from 2 to 3 kg under stall fed conditions. The doe and buck showed the sexual maturity at 9 to 12 and 6 to 10 months of age respectively. The goat was a seasonal breeder though showing 3 heats (summer, spring and winter) per year. The farmers observed up to 50% twining under stall fed conditions. The microsatellite data analysis revealed that observed genetic diversity across the loci ranged from 0.22-0.90 with an overall mean of 0.52. The heterozygote deficiency observed in the population may be due to Wahlund effects (localities with known sub population) and/or inbreeding in the population. Appropriate breeding strategies should therefore be designed under field conditions for its conservation and improvement of its unique attributes like adaptability, water use efficiency and fitness under harsh climatic conditions of the hot arid zone.