1Department of Veterinary Physiology, Post Graduate Institute of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Akola-444 104, Maharashtra
Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Post Graduate Institute of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Akola-444 104, Maharashtra
*E-mail address: svkuralkar@rediffmail.com
Online published on 23 August, 2014.
An investigation was conducted to study the effect of non-genetic factors on body weight and body measurements (body length, height at wither, chest girth and paunch girth) at birth, 3, 6 and 12 months of age of Berari goats. Least squares means for body weight were 2.43±0.04, 10.60±0.67, 15.08±0.30 and 21.14 ± 0.39 kg for birth, 3, 6 and 12 months of age, respectively. The effect of type of birth and sex were significant (P<0.05/0.01) sources of variation for body weights at birth and 12 months of age, respectively. The effect of season of kidding was significant (P< 0.05/0.01) source of variation for body weights at 3 months and 12 months, respectively. Summer and winter born kids had higher body weight at 12 months, which suggested that necessary steps should be taken in overall management for kids born in rainy season to achieve optimum growth.
Berari, Body weight, Goat, Morphometric characters
