Reproductive performance of Matou goat under sub-tropical monsoonal climate of Central China

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to estimate reproductive parameters of Matou goat to evaluate a meat breed. Data on 2,560 kids from 1,197 kidding records of 638 does and on puberty of 546 females kids were collected from farmer household herds of Matou goats in six counties of Shiye city under Hubei Province in China. Statistical analyses on puberty, estrus, gestation length (GL), litter size (LS) and survival rate (SR) of kids at puberty were performed with software Genstat 5 (Release 3.1) by using descriptive statistics and regression models. The results showed that age at puberty of female kids was 108.4+/-19.1 days while estrus duration and cycle averaged 58.6+/-15.9 hours and 19.7+/-1.5 days respectively. Gestation length (GL) and litter size (LS) averaged 150+/-7.4 days and 2.14+/-0.9 respectively with 90.8% of survival rate (SR) of kids. GL was unassociated with parity, but delayed as LS increased. SR of kids at birth differed remarkably among parity 1 to 5, decreased significantly at parity 6 to 7, and then increased at 8th parity. In Matou goat over all twinning and triplet percentage was 45.4 percent and 16.3 percent whereas percentage of single birth was 27.4 percent. As twins and triplets birth rate is considerably higher in Matou goat so, this breed can be recommended to other parts of China and the world having similar climatic conditions.

Reproduction performance of Saanen goats raised under extensive conditions

“…This is consistent with the value (21 days) found by Kaymakçı and Aşkın (1997) for milk goats, but it is higher than the other authors (Stüwe and Grodinsky, 1987;Lopes Júnior et al, 2001;Lehloenya et al, 2005;Moaeen-ud-Din et al, 2008). Various physiological, as well as environmental factors have been reported to affect the gestation period in goats.…”

“…Gestation length was found as 150.1 days. There was no consistent change in the mean gestation length in Saanen goats as compared to the findings of other authors (Amoah et al, 1996;Göncü et al, 2005;Moaeen-ud-Din et al, 2008). Saanen goats' first mating age is detected as 9.7 months.…”

“…Saanen goats' first mating age is detected as 9.7 months. However, when compared with the other breeds of goats, Saanen goats reached mating age with similar many goat breeds of the world (Ceyhan and Karadağ, 2009;Moaeen-ud-Din et al, 2008).…”

“…Reproduction efficiency in female goats is determined by many different processes including length of the breeding season, cyclic activity, ovulation rate, fertilization rate, the post-partum anestrous period and the growth and viability of the offspring. Reproductive efficiency as such can be measured and expressed as the kidding rate, weaning rate, kidding interval, live weight of kids born or weaned and the length of the reproductive cycle (Grayling, 1988;Kaymakçı and Aşkın, 1997;Moaeen-ud-Din et al, 2008).…”

“…Milk fat is almost 3.4 to 3.6% (Özder, 2006;Ceyhan and Karadağ, 2009). In general, gestation length is 150 days on average (Amoah et al, 1996), birth rate is 78 to 95%, infertility rate is 5 to 20%, number of kids per fertile goat is 1.2 to 2.14 Göncü et al, 2005;Moaeen-ud-Din et al, 2008), survival rate of kids till weaning is 82 to 98% Simsek and Bayraktar, 2006;Moaeen-ud-Din et al, 2008) birth weight of Saanen is 2.73 to 4.01 kg (Uğur et al, 2004;Lehloenya et al, 2005;Göncü et al, 2005;Ocak et al, 2006;Simsek and Bayraktar, 2006;Simsek et al, 2007) and weaning weight is 10.7 to 18.0 kg (Freitas et al, 2004;Ocak et al, 2006;Simsek and Bayraktar, 2006;Simsek et al, 2007).…”