The Effect Of Crossbreeding Programmes, Season On Weight And Linear Traits Of Pre-Weaned Nigeria Goats

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different crossbreeding programmes and seasons on pre-weaning weights (PW) and linear body measurements (LBMS), namely, height-at-withers (HW), and body length (BL) for Nigerian purebred goats and their crosses using 176 pre-weaner does. Two breed stocks were used: West Africa dwarf goat (WADG) of Savannah ecozone, Red Sokoto goat (RSG) of desert ecozone which generated five breeding programmes through a complete diallel crosses. The result showed there was significant effect of breed that involved crosses of RSG x F1 (RSG x WADG). Breeding involving WADG x RSG and RSG x RSG had comparable weaning weights that are inferior to the back cross (RSG x F1). The least weight was recorded by pure WADG of the savannah ecozone. The weaning weight was significantly highest (P<0.05) in early rainy season (April-June) but were statistically similar with other seasons. The breeding programmes of early rainy (April-June) and late rainy season (July-September), early dry (October-December) and late dry out (January-March) seasons generally recorded the least results. The result also showed progressive increase in linear body parameters for RSG x F1 crosses, RSG x WADG and WADG x RSG in that order over the pure breds. The effect of breed on height-at-withers and body length were significant (P<0.05). The RSG x RSG maintained superiority on HW and BL over others. The linear body measurements generally were least for the pure WADG x WADG of Savannah ecozone (P<0.05). The Results suggest that RSG x F1 (RSG x WADG) programmes should be utilized for growth improvement of Nigerian indigenous WADG.

Keywords: crossbreeding programmes, seasons growth performance, Nigerian goat

IFE Journal of Science Vol. 9 (1) 2007 pp. 45-50