Abstract
This study was planned to estimate the live-weight in Beetal goat at various ages of the animal using regression coefficients parameters of different linear body measurements. Beetal goat growth performance and linear body measurements data were recorded from six private herds as well as from two government farms of Punjab, Pakistan. Data contained 4557 observations of live-weight and different body measurements i.e. wither height (WH), body length (BL), chest girth (CG), chest width (CW) and pin bone width (PW)} were determined by hanging balance and tailor’s tape, respectively from January 2016 to May 2017. Three classes of 4 months interval for first year of age and four classes of 6 months interval were made for second and third or above years of age (Table 1). Data were analyzed using PROC MEANS, REG, GLM, CORR of SAS (University Edition). The overall mean±S.D of live-weight, WH, BL, CG, CW and PW were 38.3 ± 15.52 kg 77.4 ± 9.97 cm, 67.3 ± 9.41cm, 75.5 ± 11.25cm, 21.6 ± 3.95cm, and 12.6 ± 2.67cm for respectively. All body measurements has highly significant effect over live-weight of animals in 5th age class (19–24 months) and overall age group. WH has high significant effect over live-weight of animals in age groups 2, 3, 4, 5 and overall age group. BL has high significant effect in all age groups except age group 7 (31–36 months). CG was highly significantly related to body weight effect in all age groups. CG has maximum parameters values in most of the age groups as compared to other body measurements. Correlation coefficient between live-weight and CG was highest (0.93) and minimum with PW (0.74). Therefore, CG has been found the most significant and important measure to estimate the live-weight of Beetal at any age of the animal.
Keywords: Beetal Goat, Live-weight, Linear Body Measurements