Performance evaluation of abergelle goat under community based breeding program in selected districts, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate body weight and milk yield improvement under community based breeding program (CBBP) in Tanqua-Abergele and Ziquala districts of Northern Ethiopia. A total of 1540 progenies (1249 for body weight and 291 for milk yield) from base flocks and selected bucks were used to evaluate genetic improvements of selective breeding. General linear model procedures were employed to evaluate selective breeding progress based on body weight and milk yield of progenies of base flocks and selected bucks. The result revealed that birth weight of progenies of selected bucks (2.39±0.02 kg) were significantly (p<0.001) heavier than base flock progenies (2.17±0.02 kg). However, the weight improvement is not continued in the subsequent growth stages. The daily milk yield of progenies of selected bucks was 372±14.8 ml significantly (p<0.05) lower than base flock does (408±6.72 ml). Moreover, there was significant variation of daily milk yield (p<0.05) between the goat populations in the study districts (404±14.2 ml in Tanqua-Abergele and 375±7.10 ml in Ziquala) and seasons (403±11.2 ml in wet and 376±8.49 ml in dry). There was no considerable improvement observed on body weight and milk yield in the CBBP, which could be influenced by environmental factors or lack of proper implementation of the selective breeding program or it could be because of the few generations used for the study. However, the study also revealed slight improvement in the fourth year of selective breeding, indicating that breeding goals require selective breeding in successive generations to achieve success.

Keywords

Body weight; Goats improvements; Milk yield; Selective breeding

Published in

Livestock Research For Rural Development
2018, volume: 30, number: 4, article number: 64
Publisher: Fundacion CIPAV

SLU Authors

• Tarekegn, Getinet Mekuriaw

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Bahir Dar University

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/130274