Open AccessMilk production traits of Balkan goats in semiextensive production systems
Author(s) -
Vladan Bogdanović,
I. Djordjevic,
I. Djurdjevic
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
biotechnology in animal husbandry/biotechnology in animal husbandry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2217-7140
pISSN - 1450-9156
DOI - 10.2298/bah0802059b
Subject(s) - lactation , breed , milk production , zoology , biology , animal husbandry , pregnancy , ecology , genetics , agriculture
Research on milk production traits of Balkan goats was carried out on 445 lactation records from 118 does of different ages. Goats were raised on 9 farms in southeast Serbia. Average length of lactation was 256 days (SD=22.41 day; CV=8.74%). Average milk production was 378 kg (SD=93.78 kg; CV=24.78%), while average percent of milk fat was 3.71% (SD=0.25%; CV=6.63%). The most significant influence on variability of length of lactation had farm and year of lactation, while no effect had year of birth and order of lactation. Variability of milk production was under influence of all analyzed fixed factors and covariate. The most significant influence had farm, year of lactation and length of lactation, while effects of year of birth and order of lactation were significant. On the other hand, variability of milk fat percent was under significant effect of farm, year of lactation and order of lactation, while year of birth and length of lactation had no effect. It might be concluded that variability of analyzed traits were more under effects of husbandry systems than biological characteristics of goat breed.