This study was carried out to investigate the use of three different mathematical models (Wood, Quadratic and Cubic) for describing the lactation curve of Akkaraman ewes. Data were collected from 42 ewes that were three years of age and from the same flock raised in The State Farm of Gözlü in Konya Province. All ewes lambed in March. They were hand milked twice daily and the first milk test was performed with in the first month after lambing (mean = 27.8 day, SD = 4.26) in an attempt to describe the peak yield. The differences between estimated total milk yields by the models were not significant. The models were adequate for describing total milk yield. The differences between peak yields were not significant. The Wood model estimated the time of peak yield earlier than the other models and observed values (p<0.01). Especially the Cubic model's peak time was very close to really peak time (34.30 vs. 35.33 days). R 2 values of the models ranged from 85.85% to 96.20%. The Cubic model gave the best R 2 value (p<0.01). Correlation coefficients between descriptive values of the models changed from 0.32 to 1.00. Total milk yields of the models were highly correlated (above 0.99) with the total milk yield calculated by the Fleischmann method (p<0.01). As a result the Cubic model showed the best fit to the data collected from Akkaraman ewes and allowed a suitable description of the shape of the lactation curve.

The objective of this study was to determine the fitness of Quadratic, Cubic, Gompertz and Logistic functions to the growth curves of Konya Merino lambs obtained by using monthly records of live weight from birth to 480 days of age. The models were evaluated according to determination coefficient (R 2 ), mean square prediction errors (MSPE) and Durbin Watson (DW) statistics. The R 2 values of the models ranged from 0.96 to 0.99 for females and from 0.96 to 0.99 for males. The Cubic model gave the best R 2 value of 0.99 in females, while the Logistic model gave the lowest R 2 value of 0.96 in females. The results indicated that the Quadratic and Gompertz models showed the best fit to growth of Konya Merino ewe lambs by having higher R 2 values, lower MSPE and non autocorrelation. By using these models live weights at later ages could be predicted from early partial live weight data. Further studies should be carried out on growth curve characteristics at later ages including adult age.________________________________________________________________________________ Increase in live weight or dimension against age has been described as growth. Changes in live weight or dimension for a period of time are explained by the growth curves. Animal breeders are interested in the genotypic and phenotypic relationships during all phases of growth. Knowledge of genotypic and phenotypic relationships among live weights, degree of maturity and growth rate during all phases of growth is necessary to formulate breeding programmes to improve lifetime efficiency (Smith et al., 1976). Growth curves are also used for investigating optimum feeding programmes, determining optimum slaughtering age and the effects of selection on curve parameters and on live weight at a certain age (Blasco & Gomes, 1993).The shape of growth curves has been reported to vary according to the species of animal, the environment and the trait (Efe, 1990;Akbaş et al., 1999;Topal et al., 2004). Moore (1985) studied the growth curves of domesticated mammals. He reported that linear and cubic models fitted the data of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits, mice and rats sufficiently, and supplied a standard growth curve for these mammals. Akbaş et al. (1999) studied live weight changes of Kıvırcık and Dağlıç male lambs from birth to 420 days using growth curve models. They reported that the simple linear model gave the best fit for Dağlıç and the quadratic model for Kıvırcık lambs. Also, nonlinear Brody, Negative exponentials, Gompertz, Logistic and Bertalanffy models fitted the body weight data of Kıvırcık and Dağlıç male lambs well (models' R 2 values were above 0.98). Esenbuğa et al. (2000) reported that R 2 values for the Brody model in Morkaraman, Awassi and Tushin lambs were 0.99, 0.99 and 0.98, respectively and the fitness of this model was found to be sufficient. The Gompertz function was found to be appropriate for describing the growth curve of Suffolk sheep (Lewis et al., 2002). Growth from birth to 360 days of age in ewe lambs of the Morkaraman and Awas...

The objective of this study was to investigate the use of four different mathematical functions (Wood, Inverse Polynomial, Quadratic and Cubic models) for describing the lactation curve of unimproved Awassi ewes. Data were collected from 136 ewes from the same flock raised on the State Farm of Gözlü in the Konya Province of Turkey. The differences in estimated total milk yields between the models were not statistically significant. All models were adequate in describing total milk yield, though total milk yield estimated using the Cubic model was very close to total milk yield calculated by the Fleischmann method. Age effects on model parameters were not significant. The Inverse Polynomial model overestimated the peak yield significantly. Estimated peak yields of the Wood and Cubic model were similar while that obtained from the Quadratic model was significantly lower than that of the other models. Day of peak yield estimated by the models varied between 10.2 and 56.4 days. The differences between days of peak yield estimated using the different models were significant. R 2 values of the models ranged from 0.724 to 0.977. The Cubic model gave the best R 2 value. The lowest mean square prediction error was found using the Cubic model. Correlation coefficients between total milk yield calculated by the Fleischmann method and estimated total milk yield from the other models ranged from 0.933 to 0.998. The highest correlation coefficient was found for the Cubic model. As a result, the Cubic model showed the best fit to the data collected from unimproved Awassi ewes and allowed a suitable description of the shape of the lactation curve.

The aim of this study was to determine the growth, testicular dimensions, body measurements of kids until the weaning age and mature goats in the recently defined Honamlı goat breed in Turkey. This study has been carried out on 7 different Honamlı herds that consist of 207 kids, 174 goats and 22 goat bucks that have been breed in the Burdur, Antalya and Konya provinces under extensive conditions. The average of some important measurements such as withers height, rump height, body length, chest girth, tail length, nose length, distance between two horns, neck length, left front wrist girth and left back wrist girth on the 90th day at Honamlı herd kids were determined to be 62.

This study has been carried out in the Western Mediterranean Region of Turkey on seven different Honamli goat flocks. The aim of this study was to determine the growth characters, survival rate (till weaning, 105th day), some reproductive characteristics and marketable milk yield. The data were collected from 516 does and 210 kids (125 buckling and 85 doelings). The results indicate that the numbers of multiple birth and litter size were 32.8 % and 1.35 respectively. Survival rates of kids at the 30th, 90th, and 105th days were 98.5, 97.2, and 97.2 %, respectively. The average birth weight for the buckling and doelings was 4.1 and 3.7 kg, respectively. The average weaning weights for buckling and doelings were 26.9 and 23.4 kg, respectively. The effects of dams' age, on sex and birth type on the growth of Honamli kids were statistically significant (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, and p < 0.001). While the diameters of erythrocytes of Honamli goats are smaller, the density of hemoglobin in the erythrocytes is more than Asian, Indian, and American caprine breeds. The average lactation length and marketable milk yield was assessed to be at 210.3 days and was 89 L, respectively. The growth characteristics of Honamli kids at weaning age were assessed to be higher than most of the other goat breeds in Turkey. The results further indicated that there is a significant variation in the production traits among the different Honamli goat flocks. Production traits of Honamli goats at different breeding conditions should further be investigated to come to a definite conclusion.