Correlations among Certain Growth and Production Traits in Different Breeds of Goats

The study was conducted to estimate the genetic and phenotypic correlations among body measurements, body weight, kidding interval, kidding rate and milk yield in the different breeds of goat. Data was collected on 95 goats of three breeds (Jamunapari, Black Bengal and their crosses (Jamunapari×Black Bengal) through direct observation. The average body weight of Jamunapari goat was 34.75 ± 3.33 kg higher than Black Bengal (27.54 ± 5.332 kg) goats. It was observed that Jamunapari goat (0.65 ± 0.187 L/day) produces higher daily milk during lactation length than Black Bengal (0.50±0.094 L/day), leading to higher lactation milk production of this goat. The kidding rate and kidding interval were 1.33 ± 0.466 and 223.27 ± 11.19 days in Jamunapari, 1.475 ± 0.555 and 247.94 ± 17.23 days in crossbred, 1.75 and 160.83 ± 16.57 days in Black Bengal goats, respectively. The heritability estimates of body weight, milk yield and lactation milk yield were 0.29 to 0.32, 0.25 to 0.20 and 0.30 to 0.32 for all breeds of goat. The genetic correlation (rg) and phenotypic correlation (rp) of body weight were positive with all traits except the rg with lactation yield. The body length had negative rp with lactation production and negative rg with daily milk yield and lactation production. The body height has negative rp with kidding rate, kidding interval, milk yield and lactation production and positive rg only with kidding interval in all breeds. The high and positive correlations (either genetic or phenotypic) are important predictors of traits for improvement. Hence, these can be valuable tools for making selection/culling decisions for improved productivity of goats.