2008, Vol 3 No 1, Article 23

Effects of Breeding Practice and Sex on Growth of
Black Bengal Goats under Village Conditions of West Bengal

S. Bera, A. K. Samanta, A. K. Santra* and S. K. Maiti

Department of Animal Production and Management
West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences Kolkata-37
(e-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The growth performance of Black Bengal goats reared under village condition of West Bengal was studied. The overall growth rate from first week to 24th weeks of age was found to be 42.88 g/day. The growth rate of first three weeks of age ranged from 49.3 to 71.83 g/day. The lowest growth rate was observed in between 8 and 13 weeks of age. Further observation revealed that the overall growth rate up to 24th weeks was almost similar in both treatment (44.09 ± 2.14 g/day) and control groups (43.05 ± 1.95 g/day). The pattern of growth rate of first two weeks was higher in both the groups. Males were found to be higher daily gain in body weight (48.62 ± 1.98 g/day) than females (37.60 ± 1.67g/day). The growth rate according to sex was found to differ significantly (p<0.01).

KEY WORDS

Bengal goat, growth rate, breeding practices, sex, village condition

INTRODUCTION

The wide distribution of goats in the tropics and subtropics due to their ability to adapt to a wide variety of environments and their flexible feeding habits reflects that they can be managed under all types of animal husbandry from the intensive and sophisticated to the most extensive forms of nomadic grazing (Acharya, 1992). Goat farm is an essential component of farming system of rural people. Few reports are available on the performance of goats under village conditions and are inadequate to take up area specific goat improvement programme. Growth rate in terms of change in body weight is directly associated with the weight at marketing age which leads to economic return. The Bengal breeds of goat known for producing excellent quality meat and superior skin to other breeds are widely distributed in West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and adjoining areas. Keeping in view of its importance for socio-economic development of poor people as well as to need assess potential of local breeds of goat under village condition a study was conducted to find the effects of breeding practices and sex on growth performance of Bengal goats reared under village conditions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study was conducted in three different villages namely Ayeshpur-Panchpota, Ganguria and Hatikanda-Daluipur in the Nadia district of West Bengal. The goats are managed by the farmers by extensive grazing system. They are generally taken out for grazing during day light. The data on growth rates were recorded from 71 kids. Weekly average daily gain in weight up to 24 weeks of age was calculated based on the formula (Brody, 1945). The body weight of kids upto 24th weeks of ages were recorded individually in the morning before the kids were fed. The information pertaining to the present study was collected by PRA technique (Schonuth et al, 1995). Data were classified according to breeding practices followed and sex on average daily gain in weight. Breeding practices were classified in to two groups: treatment and control groups. Treatment groups were those where kids were born by mating of selected group of bucks, whereas kids born by mating of unselected group of bucks were from control group. The data were subjected to statistical analysis according to Snedecor and Cochran (1968).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The present findings on daily weight gain per week up to 24th weeks are presented in Table 1. The overall growth rate from first week to 24th week of age was found to be 42.88 g per day. It was also observed that the growth rate of first three weeks of age ranged from 49.3 to 71.83 g. From 4th to 7th week of age the rate was varied from 41.30 to 43.46 g. However, the growth rate was lowest in between 8 and 13 weeks of age followed by increased growth rate ranging from 39.63 to 47.24 g up to 24th weeks of age. The variations in body weights at different age groups might be due to differences in the genetic make up of the individuals and management practices followed by farmers in different villages. The present findings are closely related to the earlier workers (Kumar and Singh, 1983; Husain et al, 1992).
The effect of breeding practices on growth rate is presented in Table 2. The results indicated that the overall growth rate up to 24th weeks were close in both treatment (44.09 ± 2.14 g/day) and control groups (43.05 ± 1.95 g/day). The pattern of growth rate of first two weeks was higher in both the groups. The lowest growth rate was observed in 10th weeks of age in treatment group (25.67 g/day) while it was found lowest (33.20 g/day) in 4th weeks of age. The study also revealed that the growth rate up to 24th weeks age was not significant (p<0.01) between two groups. The previous worker (Husain et al, 1996), however observed significantly higher daily gain in selected groups.
Daily gains in body weight according to sex are tabulated in Table 3. It was found that males had a higher daily gain in body weight (48.62 ± 1.98 g/day) from birth to 24th weeks of age than the females (37.60 ± 1.67 g/day). The highest and lowest weight gain in males was observed as 69.96 g/day and 40.63 g/day in first week and 13th weeks respectively. However, in females the highest growth (73.55 g/day) was observed in first week, while the lowest gain (26.73 g/day) was in 10th weeks of age. The anabolic effect of male sex hormone could be one of the factors for this difference (Hafez, 1962). The analysis of variance showed significant variation of weight gains between male and female (p<0.01). The present study was close to those reported earlier (Singh and Singh, 1998; Singh and Singh, 2000; Singh et al, 2002).

REFERENCES

1. Acharya, R.M. (1992): Goat genetic resources and their management: research in goats. Indian Experience. CIRG, Makhdoom, Uttar Pradesh, India. pp:1-21
2. Brody, S. (1945): Bioenergetics and growth. Hafner publishing co. in. New York,pp: 489-569.
3. Hafez, E.S.E.(1962): Reproduction in farm animals. Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, USA.
4. Husain, S. S. and Mafizul Islam, A.B.M.M. (1992): Reproduction and growth of Black Bengal goats in Bangladesh. Recent advances in goat production. Proc. V International conference on goats. New Delhi. 545-549.
5. Husain,S.S., Horst, P. and Islam, A.M.M.M. (1996): Phenotypic selection on the improvement of growth performance of Black Bengal kids. Asian Australasian Journal of Animal Science, 9: 149-153.
6. Kumar,R. and Singh, C.S.P.(1983): Gain in weight and body measurements of kids. Indian Journal of Animal Science, 53: 563-567.
7. Schonuth, M.S., Michael, S. and Kievelitz, H.T. (1995):Participatory learning approaches, PRA, Participatory appraisal-an introductory guide. Extension Digest, 3:4-10.
8. Singh, N.K. and Singh, D.K. (1998): Growth rate of Black Bengal and it’s crosses with Beetal under village conditions. Indian Journal of Animal Science, 68: 988-990.
9. Singh, D.K. and Singh, N.S. (2000). Genetic analysis of pre and post-weaning growth traits of black Bengal kids. Indian Veterinary Medical Journal, 24: 275-278.
10. Singh, D.K., Kumar, S., Singh, N.S., and Singh, C.S.P. (2002): Genetic and non-genetic factors affecting pre-weaning relative growth rate (RGR) in Black Bengal and its half-bred kids. Indian Journal Animal Science, 72: 161-164.
11. Snedecor,G.W. and Cochran, W.G. (1968): Statistical methods. 6th ed. Oxford, IBH Publishing Co., Calcutta.

     

Table 1: Mean values of daily weight gain (grams) at weekly intervals from birth to 24th week on total basis

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Table 2: Mean values of daily weight gain (grams) at weekly intervals in kids under different breeding practices

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Table 3: Mean values of daily weight gain (grams) at weekly intervals in male and female kids

(click on the table for enlarged view)