Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXV, Issue 2
Written by Saïd EL MADIDI, Houda EL KHEYYAT
The main objectives of this study were to estimate the heritability and genetic advance for growth traits in the Argan grove of Agadir in Morocco goat. Traits included, birth weight (BW), 10 days weight (W10), 30 days weight (W30) and at 70 days weight (W70), average daily gain from birth to 30 days (ADG1) and average daily gain from 30 days to 70 days (ADG2). The measurements concern 81 parent-offspring pair distributed in two generations G1 (maternal parent) and G2 (offspring). Genetic parameters are estimated using the parent-offspring regression method after adjusting data for significant non genetic factors. In G2, the birth weights (BW), 10 days (W10), 30 days (W30) and at 70 days (W70) are respectively 1.75 ± 0.23 kg, 2.42 ± 0.24 kg, 3.57 ± 0.27 kg and 5.54 ± 0.46 kg. The average daily gains (ADG1: 0-30 d) and (ADG2: 30-70 d) are 62.38 ± 5.38 g and 50.34 ± 10.62 g respectively. The heritability and genetic advance estimates of different growth traits under study were found moderate in magnitude. Genetic correlations between body weight traits ranged from 0.18 to 0.77, whereas phenotypic correlations ranged from 0.13 to 0.52. these estimates suggest that there is no genetic contradiction between these traits and their assigned genes which were responsible for phenotypic expression. The exploitation of this variability could be used for the selection of better performing goats kids adapted to local breeding conditions.
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