Abstract
The objective of the present study was to investigate growth potential of Beetal goat under field and farm conditions in Punjab, Pakistan. Live-weight data of Beetal goat were recorded in the field (N=1055) from registered farmers raising Beetal goats and from two government (N=2636) farms of Punjab, Pakistan between January 2016 and May 2017. The ages of animals were divided into twenty three monthly classes with birth age class declared 0 and the last class (24 month) also having animals more than 2 years. Data were analyzed using PROC GLM of SAS (University Edition). The model included fixed effects of age of goat on test-day, sex of animal and fixed effects of herd (field and farm). Males were significantly (P = 0.0001) heavier with live-weight of (32.93 ± 0.17) than females (30.21 ± 0.17). Field animals had significantly (P = 0.0001) higher live-weight (33.46 ± 0.23) than farm animals (29.67 ± 0.17). Live weight of Beetal goat significantly varied with age (P < 0.0001). The least squares estimates of means of live body weight (kg) and number of records for monthly age classes from birth to 720d are given in Table 1. Beetal goat had an average birth, weaning and yearling weights as 3.61 ± 1.19, 20.18 ± 0.53 and 35.43 ± 0.41, respectively. Beetal goat showed a daily growth rate of 119.98g up to weaning at 4 months, weaning to yearling age as 62.74g and one year to approximately two years of age as 42.18g. Overall average daily growth rate from birth to approximately one year of age remained 81.82g. The data shows that Beetal bucks could be used for meat production and could be suitable candidates for improving through current genetic and genomic selection tools.
Keywords: Beetal Goat, growth, Punjab, Pakistan