title: Preliminary evaluation of growth and conformation traits of local goats and Nubians upgraded by a black Boer line in Taiwan.
abstract: The goal of this research, conducted in the most southern part of Taiwan, was to create a new genotype: the "Hengchun Black Goat" (HB). Nubian (NU) goats were first crossed with a local breed, the Taiwan native (TN), then the F1 females were crossed with the imported black Boer (BO) bucks. The upgraded genotypes were then compared with the parental breeds and Kinmen (KM), another local breed, for growth traits and body conformation. The study concerned 1,136 kids born between 2005 and 2007. The analysed traits were body weight (BW), average daily gain and three linear measurements, namely height at withers, body length and chest girth. The results indicated that environmental factors, sex, birth and rearing type, dam parity and birth year had significant effects from birth to 6 months of age. The same differences persisted to 1 year. At 6 months of age, the least square means of BW were 16.2, 19.2, 25.1, 32.0, 23.9, 23.8, 23.0 and 23.9 kg, for KM, TN, NU, 1/2BO, 3/4BO, 7/8BO, BO and HB, respectively. These first results also indicate that the growth performances of the newly created line, Hengchun Black, were equivalent to those of Boer goats.
authors.affiliation: Livestock Research Institute-Council of Agriculture, Hualien 97362, Taiwan.
authors.forename: An-Kuo
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Shen-Suan
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Shui-Tsai
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yu-Shin
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Jan-Chi
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Ming-Che
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Poivey
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D001824:Body Constitution / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001837:Body Weights and Measures; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods*; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D005260:Female; D006041:Goats / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D013045:Species Specificity; D013624:Taiwan