Udder And Teat Traits As Possible Selection Markers For Milk Yield In Local Goats Of Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out at the Research Farm of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria (October, 2003 – May, 2006) to investigate the effects of some factors (breed, stage of gestation, body condition score and stage of lactation) on udder and teat traits with their relationships with partial daily milk yield (PDM) in goats. The goat breeds studied were Red Sokoto, Sahel and West African Dwarf. The traits studied included udder circumference (UC), udder length (UL), teat length (TL), teat height to ground (THG) and teat circumference (TC). The results showed that during pregnancy these traits were significantly (P<0.05) larger in Sahel goat than in Red Sokoto and West African Dwarf does. There were also significant (P<0.05) differences in these traits with respect to gestation stages; with a general increase as pregnancy advancing. However, during lactation the traits were superior (P<0.05) in Sahel goat as compared to other two breeds. Conversely, these traits did not vary significantly with body condition score. There were also significant (P<0.001) influence of lactation stage on udder and teat traits. For instance, UC, UL, TL and TC decreased markedly with advance in lactation while THG increased with increase in lactation. The correlations between PDM vs UL, PDM vs UC, PDM vs THG, PDM vs TC and PDM vs TL were 0.53, 0.74, - 0.34, 0.49 and 0.40 (P<0.01) respectively. This study concludes that the Sahel goat does were more promising in terms of milk production potentials in this environment. However, the significant variations in the udder and teat traits in the three breeds and their high correlation coefficients implicated them as possible selection markers for milk improvement.

Keywords: Breed, gestation, lactation, body condition score

Global Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 7 (1) 2008: pp. 23-26