EVALUATION OF SINDH GOAT BREEDS PERFORMANCES FOR BODY MEASUREMENTS, BODY WEIGHT, PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS

Sindh province is harbor of maximum number of goat breeds in Pakistan. However, information is limited to basic on indigenous breeds of the province. Therefore, current study was designed to investigate body weight, body measurements, productive and reproductive performances of ten goat breeds. A survey was carried out in breeding tracts of Kamori, Tapri, Bugi-Tori, Pateri, Kachan, Jattan, Lohri, Chappar, Barri, and Thari. Data for 395 animals were collected and arranged according to age class, sex and breed while analyzed using Mixed Model by REML methodology in R program to investigate the effects of breed, sex and age on body measurements and body weight whereas data on productive and reproductive performance were analyzed using basic statistic tools in R program. Overall, breeds differed for live body weight, heart girth, body length, body height and chest length (P ≤ 0.05) except for pubic bone length (P ≤ 0.05). Kamori had the highest mean body weight of 67.58±1.41 Kg. There was a significant difference among age class for all the body measurement and body weight (P ≤ 0.05). The highest birth weight and weaning weight were observed in Pateri (2.90±0.11 Kg) and Kachan (16.0±0.50 Kg), respectively. Moreover, the highest weaning age was in Bugi-Tori (8.0±0.14 months) while highest milk yield was in Kamori (3.50±0.90 Kg per day). Minimum age at first heat was in Pateri (7.50±0.50 months) while maximum twining percentage at first kidding was in Chappar (25.0±1.25%). Tapri had lowest service period of 2.64±0.17 months. Kamori was found favorite animal as mutton breed for launching selection program for meat production. Key words: Sindh, goats, body weight, reproductive performance, productive performance