Productivity benchmarks for community-based genetic improvement of Abergelle, Central Highland and Woyto-Guji indigenous goat breeds in Ethiopia

Temesgen Jembere, Aynalem Haile¹, Tadelle Dessie², Kefelegn Kebede³, A Mwai Okeyo⁴ and Barbara Rischkowsky¹

Bako Agricultural Research Center, P O Box 03, West Shoa Ethiopia
tjbakara@yahoo.co.uk
¹ International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
² International Livestock Research Institute, Animal Science for Sustainable Productivity Program, Addis Ababa Ethiopia
³ Schools of Animal and Range Sciences, Haramaya University, Haramaya, Ethiopia
⁴ International Livestock Research Institute, Animal Science for Sustainable Productivity Program, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Assessments of production parameters and flock productivity were made in three indigenous goat breeds of Ethiopia. The goat breeds included Abergelle (AB), Central Highland (CH) and Woyto-Guji (WG). Objectives of this work were to estimate production parameters including three month weight (3mw), kidding intervals (KI) and litter size (LSB) at birth for the breeds and to assess their productivity at flock level that could be used as benchmark for evaluation of genetic progress to be realized. As AB is used for milk production, adjustment was made to their 3mw. The overall mean of 3mw (kg) were 7.44, 10.96 and 9.38 for AB, CH and WG goat breeds, respectively. Generally, wet season, male sex and single birth resulted in higher 3mw for three breeds. The overall means of KI were 362, 268 and 309 days for the breeds in respective order. The overall means of the LSB for the goat breeds, in respective order, were 1.03, 1.40 and 1.09 per doe per parturition. The flock productivity ranged from 0.27 to 0.53. Higher LSB, survival to three months (S3M), 3mw and number of parturition per year (N) resulted in higher flock productivity. CH goat breed had the highest flock productivity. The parameters estimated in this paper could be used as benchmarks for the designed CBBP of goats in the studied localities.

Key words: doe, growth, litter siz, kidding interval, milk

Introduction

In increased human population, urbanization and changing climate, goat population in Ethiopia showed an increasing trend (FAO 2014; CSA 2017). Where the recent goat population of Ethiopia was reported to be 30.20 million (CSA 2017), it used to be considerably smaller than the sheep population of the country. However, since very recently, the ratio of goat to sheep showed an increasing trend; 0.93 (CSA 2012), 0.99 (CSA 2015) and 0.98 (CSA 2017). This might be an indication that goats are becoming equally important as sheep in Ethiopia.

In developing countries, including Ethiopia, indigenous goats make valuable contributions, especially to the poor in the rural areas. They are important sources of meat, milk, manure, fibers & skins, and satisfy various cultural and religious functions (Tesfaye 2004; Aziz 2010; Devendra 2012).

The importance of this valuable genetic resource is, however, underestimated and contribution to the livelihood of the poor is inadequately understood (Kosgey and Okeyo 2007; Aziz 2010). The productivity of these indigenous goats is also low as a result of many interrelated factors including lack of applicable and impactful breeding programs.

Genetic improvement through establishment of central nucleus small ruminant flocks in the research centres in Ethiopia was known to be ineffective due to various factors (Getachew et al 2018). As an alternative, community based breeding program (CBBP) of small ruminants has emerged. The CBBP is a design of breeding scheme that is deemed suitable for smallholder farming system (Gizaw et al 2014). This approach is preferred to the more common top down breeding programs that are mostly established on governmental stations in developing countries (Mueller et al 2015b) and particularly suitable for small ruminants. The CBBPs have been established in different parts of the world; for sheep and goats in Ethiopia (Duguma et al 2011; Haile et al 2011; Abegaz et al 2014), for goats in Mexico (Wurzinger et al 2013) and in Iran (Mueller et al 2015a). Many African countries are also establishing the CBBP for small ruminants.

Implementation of CBBP of three indigenous goats in Ethiopia was done by the leading role of Bioscience for eastern and central Africa and International livestock Research Institute (BecA-ILRI) in six villages (CBBP sites). The breeds included Abergelle kept in arid agro-pastoral, Central Highland inhabiting crop-livestock production system and Woyto-Guji from semi-arid agro-pastoral production systems (Tatek et al 2016). The implemented CBBP on these goat breeds are being monitored by the national research systems and being implemented with technical backup from International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA).

Alternative breeding programs to the current ones had been simulated to improve the breeding objective traits of the three indigenous goat breeds in there reproducing habitat (Temesgen 2016). In order to evaluate the genetic progress to be realized, however, bench mark indicators were not well documented. The values presented for Woyto-Guji and Centeral Highland (Ambo site) by Zergaw et al (2016) and for Abergelle and Central Highland (Gonder site) by Alubel (2015) were based on small data size which question its representativeness. Flock productivity, was not considered in any of the former works. In addition, in Alubel (2016), early live weights of Abergelle goat breeds was not adjusted for the milk consumed by their producers that could have been converted to weight. Therefore, the present work was designed with the objective of setting benchmarks for community based breeding programs for Abergelle, Centeral Highland and Woyto-Guji indigenous goats in Ethiopia based on which realized genetic improvements could be compared later on. Lack of benchmarks against which genetic progresses could be compared was appreciated in some of the CBBP of sheep in Ethiopia.

Materials and methods

Description of the study sites

The study was conducted in six villages and on three indigenous goat breeds, two villages per breed, in Ethiopia. The goat breeds were Abergelle (AB), Centeral Highland (CH) and Woyto-Guji (WG). The villages for AB, CH and WG are located in Tigray and Amhara, Amhara and Oromia and in and SNNP’s (Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s) region, respectively. Specific villages were Dingur (Tigray region) and Blaku (Amahara region) for AB, Waykaw (Amahara region) and Tatessa (Oromia region) for CH and Messale and Arkisha (SNNP’s) for WG. The location of these villages is detailed in Table 1. Study sites’ identification was guided by the respective district agriculturalists.

Recording and analyses of traits

In order to set the benchmarks, three production parameters and a flock productivity index were analyzed and presented. The production parameters included weight (kg) at three months (3mw), litter size (LSB) at birth and kidding interval (day) (KI). Ad hoc enumerators were hired to collect data on production of growth and reproduction traits. The enumerators were recording weight of kids at birth (birth weight), live weight at three months, live weight at six month, and post-partum weight right after birth. In this paper, the three month weights and post partum weights were considered. The reproduction traits were kidding interval (KI) and litter size at birth (LSB). The types of births (whether kids were born single or twin) were captured at birth from which the type of births of kids was calculated whereas; the kidding intervals were derived from the already recorded data as the difference between consecutive parturitions for a doe. The data collection duration was from mid July 2013 to Mid April 2015 for all breeds.

On the other hand, a flock productivity index was computed based on various parameters generated from data specific to each breed (Table 6); these parameters included number of parturitions per year (N), LSB, survival rate to three months (S3M), 3mw, post partum weights. Overall mean values were taken while computing the flock productivity index. In addition, correction was made to 3mw of AB based on the information provided in Table 2.

In the analysis of all traits fixed effects of villages, year, season, type, sex, and parity of kids’ birth were investigated. Parity of does was captured from owners at beginning of monitoring work of the base flock. Numbers of records were found to be unbalanced across year, type and parity of births. Records from triplets, parity ≥ seven and the year 2015 were small. Due to these reasons, merging of records in 2015 and 2014, from triplets and twins and from parity ≥ seven and parity six was made. In addition, post-partum weight of does was fitted as linear covariate for the analyses of 3mw where the rest were fitted as fixed effects.

Seasons were categorized into ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ based on 2013 and 2014 rain fall data purchased from the national meteorology agency of Ethiopia. Accordingly, ‘wet’ months were July, August and October in Dingur; July, August and September in Blaku; June, August, September, October and November in Waykaw; April – October in Tatessa; and January, March, June, August, September, October and November in Massale and Arkisha. The rest months in the respective villages were ‘dry’ season.

Productivity analysis

Using the estimated biological parameters generated from data specific to each breed, flock productivity analysis was made to investigate productivity at flock level. In analyzing the flock productivity Bosman et al (1997) used parameters including flock weight which was not captured or hardly possible to capture in our cases. Due to this fact, flock mean weight was replaced by post partum weight (ppw) in the present study thinking that it could give good indication of the flock productivity.

Flock productivity was assessed and compared across the three indigenous goat breeds using index given bellow:

where y=productivity in kg live weight per kg post-partum weight per year; N = number of parturitions per year; LSB=litter size at birth; S3M = survival rate to three months of age; 3mw= live weight at three months (adjusted for milk consumed by producers for AB based on information given in Table 6); PPWm=mean postpartum weight of does.

Overall mean values or mean values of 3mw, LSB, KI and PPW were used in the calculation of this productivity index. Number of parturition per year was calculated based on overall mean KI values. When KI is less than 365 days, number of parturition is definitely more than one times and when the KI is more than 365 number of parturition per year is less than one times.

Milk was economically important trait in AB where producers compete for milk with kids (Alubel 2015; Tatek et al 2016); from CH and WG breeds, however, farmers do not milk goats. If this circumstance is not taken into account, flock productivity of AB would be under estimated. Therefore, the amount of milk consumed by producers which would otherwise be used by kids for growth was converted in to growth based on information contained in Table 2.

Based on information contained in Table 2, kids at Dingur and Blaku were losing about 226.690 g and 154.050 g daily and these were about 199.880 kcal and 135.830 kcal, respectively. When converted to growth that was 29.830 g and 20.270 g for the villages which was, in respective order, 2.680 kg and 1.820 kg at three months of age, for the villages, hence these values were added on actual 3mw of AB goat breed at the two sites in order to favor them while assessing the flock productivity.

Results

Least squares means of weights at three months (3mw) are given in Table 3 for AB, CH and WG goat breeds. The overall mean of 3mw (kg) were 7.4, 11.0 and 9.4 for AB, CH and WG goat breeds, respectively. Generally, wet season, male sex and single birth resulted in higher 3mw in the three breeds (Table 3). The 3mw showed an increment with a unit increment of the does’ ppw in all the goat breeds (Table 3). The effect of parity of birth was not significant on 3mw of all the breeds. AB and WG kids born in 2013 had higher 3mw than those born in 2014. Contrary to AB, for CH kids, the vice versa was observed where kids born in 2014 had higher 3mw than those born in 2013.

The least squares means and standard errors of kidding intervals (KI), in days, are given in Table 4 for AB, CH and WG goat breeds. The overall means of KI were 362, 268 and 309 days for the breeds in respective order. Does that had their previous parturition in 2014 had shorter KI in AB and CH does. AB does having their previous parturition in Blaku had longer KI than does that had their previous parturition in Dingur. The KI of does for CH did not significantly differed by villages of production.

Least squares means of litter size at birth (LSB) are given in Table 5 for AB, CH, and WG goat breeds. The overall means of the LSB for the goat breeds, in respective order, were 1.00, 1.40 and 1.09 per doe per parturition. The CH does from waykaw were characteized with higher LSB than same breed does from Tatessa village. In similar fashion, CH does that had births during dry seasons had higher LSB than does that had births during wet seasons.

Discussion

In the present study non-genetic factors influencing biological production traits including 3mw, LSB and KI were investigated for three indigenous goat breeds in Ethiopia. Using the estimated parameters as input, productivities flock level was also studied. The effect of year and village of birth were significant on most of the production parameters. Those years and villages of birth characterized by favorable conditions for feed production had significantly better values that were in agreement with available literature (Hailu et al 2005; Meza-Herrera et al 2014; Ndlovu and Simela 1996).

Three month weight

Generally, wet season, male sex and single birth resulted in higher 3mw in the present study in the three breeds. The present result was in agreement with various reports (Meza-Herrera 2014; Hailu et al 2005). In relation to endocrinal system, estrogen hormone has a limited effect on the growth of long bones in females and could be resulted in lighter body weight of females than males (Roshanfekr et al 2011; Rashidi et al 2008). Environmental conditions like temperature, humidity and rains known to have positive influence on live weights (Hailu et al 2005; Ndlovu and Simela 1996) might have been more favorable in the villages, seasons and year with superior 3mw.

Kidding Interval

Year of previous parturition in AB and CH does and village of previous parturition in the AB had significant influence on the KI. The present values of KI for CH and WG were in agreement with values reported by Ndlovu and Simela (1996) for east African goat, Đuričić et al (2012) for Boer goat. The KI of the CH and WG goat breeds were shorter than reports of Marai et al (2002). However, KI of AB breed were longer than the KI values in these report. Availability of feeds has direct influence on ovulation rate and fertility, since the nutritional stress appears to be a prime probable cause of long kidding interval in goats (Bushara et al 2013). Differences in KI could also be attributed to differences in genetic makeup and managements (Gbangboche et al 2006) as well.

Litter size

In agreement with this finding parity of birth affected LSB of kids in Red Sokoto (Awemu et al 1999) where LSB from mid parities were higher than the other parities. However, the values reported in the present study were lower than the values reported (1.57 - 1.77) by Meza-Herrera et al (2014). In general LSB is largely influenced by ovulation rate which was in turn substantially controlled by genotype and environment and can be increased by the pre-mating nutrition management in the case of ewes (Mukasa-Mugerwa and Lahlou-Kassi, 1995) which may also hold true in does.

Goat flock productivity

The flock productivity values in the present study were higher than the flock productivity from Nigerian goat studied by Bosman et al. (1997) that ranged from 0.19 – 0.22 kg. The variation in the productivity indices, generally, could be attributed to the values of the parameters composing the calculation of productivity indices. Higher N, LSB, S3M and 3mw resulted in higher flock productivity and the vice versa. As the result, CH goat breed had the highest productivity. The moderate flock productivity of the AB was due to the correction made to the three month weight by assuming the conversion of milk consumed by households to the live weight of kid.

Conclusions

• Single born and male kids had higher 3mw; locations with wet months of birth and does with higher postpartum weight also resulted in higher 3mw in AB, CH and WG indigenous goat breeds in Ethiopia.
  
  
• In general, CH goat breed was found to be the most productive when assessed with the help of flock productivity index. The higher productivity index values for CH breed was associated with higher LSB, S3M, N and 3mw.
  
  
• KI in AB breed was longest compared to the other two breeds due to harsh environments not favoring fastest onset of subsequent parturitions.
  
  
• Improvements in the production traits and then productivity at flock level could be attained by minimizing the effects of environmental sources.
  
  
• When comparison of productivity at flock level is to be made between breeds of multipurpose like AB, correction should be made to growth of kids by considering the amount of milk consumed by owners which would have been consumed by kids.
  
  
• The parameters estimated in this paper could be used as benchmark for the anticipated CBBP of goats in the localities.

Acknowledgment

We are grateful to smallholder farmers whose animals were monitored. We are also thankful to the partner research centers namely Tanqua Abergelle, Sekota Dry land, Gonder and Arba Minch for their close follow-up of data collection. The first author thanks ILRI and International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas for supporting this work through the CGIAR Research Program Livestock and Fish, and a SIDA funded BecA-ILRI goat project and an International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) funded SmaRT (Small Ruminant value chain Transformation in Ethiopia) project.

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Received 7 April 2019; Accepted 18 April 2019; Published 1 May 2019

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