Growth and Reproduction of Newly Bred Fast-growing Fuqing Goats in Two Generations

  Objective  Breeding results on growth and reproduction performances of two generations of a line of fast-growing Fuqing goats were studied.

  Method  Traits on growth and reproduction of the newly bred Fuqing goats in two generations were analyzed.

  Result  After two successive generations of strict and systematic breeding, the growth and reproductive traits of the goats in the core groups were improved. The genetic progress and population uniformity on growth characteristics in two generations tended to be more significant than those on reproduction traits. The body weight indicators on the 2-, 9- and 12-month-old progeny increased with significant differences by the generation (P＜0.05). Other than the 9-month-old goats, those of different ages showed a decreasing coefficient of variance on body weight from 0 to the 2^nd generation. Compared to the 0 generation, the goats after two generations of breeding had their body weight increased in 2 month by 7.45%, in 9 months by 11.74%, and in 12 months by 10.70%. There was no significant difference on the body weight at birth among the progenies in the core groups (P＞0.05). Both surviving rate and body weight of the weaning kids increased with the breeding generation, but the average weights of weaning kids differed significantly among the three generations (P＜0.05), as they were 9.42kg for the 0 generation, 9.95kg for the 1^st generation, and 10.15kg for the 2^nd generation.

  Conclusion  After two successive generations of systematic breeding, the growth of Fuqing goats was effectively upgraded to ensure a reliable breeding program.