The aim of the study was to investigate the application of binary logistic regression to assess the potential factors associated with the prevalence of abortion and stillbirth in indigenous goat breeds in Nasarawa State, north central Nigeria. 5,268 kidding records of does from a total of 105 traditional goat herders from the year 2010-2011 were utilized in the study. The goats which were of West African Dwarf (WAD), Red Sokoto (RS), Sahel (SH) and WAD x RS crossbred (WR) genetic groups originated from different flocks and were reared under the traditional extensive system. The risk factors investigated were dam breed group, season, parity and number of foetuses. Of the 5,268 kidding records, 570 (10.8%) and 520 (9.87%) were cases of abortion and stillbirth, respectively. The logistic regression analysis revealed that season, parity and number of foetuses were the parameters of utmost importance (P<0.05) influencing the prevalence of abortion and stillbirth in the four genetic groups investigated. The logistic regression models were able to predict correctly 89.2 and 90.1% cases of abortion and stillbirth, respectively. The present information may be exploited in management practices to attenuate the incidence of abortion and stillbirth parturition, thereby increasing the productivity of the animals.

The study aimed at describing objectively the interdependence between body weight (BWT) and morphometric traits in Khaki Campbell and Pekin ducks using multivariate path analysis technique.Measurements were taken on one hundred and ninety seven (197) randomly selected 10-week old Khaki Campbell and Pekin ducks, respectively in Plateau State, Nigeria. The birds were reared on deep litter in a semi-intensive system where they were kept in a fenced area provided with water ponds and locked up in the poultry house during the night. The body parts measured were, body length (

SUMMARY:Body size and testicular measurements have been found to be important parameters utilized in breeding soundness evaluation. The present study therefore, aimed at determining the relationship between body weight (BW), body condition score (BCS), testicular length (TL), testicular diameter (TD) and scrotal circumference (SC) in 120 extensively reared Yankasa rams (approximately 30 months old) using linear, quadratic and cubic predictive models. Coefficient of determination (R 2 ), Adjusted R 2 , the estimate of Mallows' Cp, RMSE (Root mean squares error) and the parsimony principle (p=number of parameters) were used to compare the efficiency of the different models. Strong Pearson's correlation coefficients (r = 0.83-0.94; P<0.01) were found between BW, TL, TD and SC. Spearman correlations between BCS and other variables were also highly significant (r = 0.78-0.85; P<0.01). SC was the sole variable of utmost importance in estimating BW, which was best predicted using the cubic model. However, the optimal model for BW prediction comprised TD, SC and BCS with p, R The present findings could be exploited in husbandry and selection of breeding stock for sustainable sheep production especially within the resource-poor farming system under tropical and subtropical conditions.

Penelitian bertujuan untuk mengembangkan model pendugaan nilai kondisi tubuh (NKT) dari bobot badan (BB), panjang testis (PT), diameter testis (DT) dan lingkar skrotum (LS) dengan menggunakan regresi linier berganda pada domba jantan Yankasa. Data diperoleh secara acak dari 120 ekor domba jantan berumur kira-kira 2,5 tahun yang dipelihara secara ekstensif pada peternakan di wilayah Narasawa, Nigeria. Meskipun korelasi fenotipik pairwise menunjukkan hubungan nyata (P0,01) antar variabel yang diukur, terdapat masalah kolinieritas antara BB dengan LT sebagaimana ditunjukkan oleh variance inflation factor (VIP) yang lebih besar daripada 10 (VIF = 19,45 and 16,65 masingmasing untuk BB dan LS) dan tolerance value (T) yang lebih kecil daripada 0,1 (T = 0,05 and 0,06 masing-masing pada BB dan LS). Diantara variable kolinear, BB menunjukkan 83,7% keragaman pada NKT. Namun demikian sedikit perkembangan diperoleh pada pendugaan NKT dari BB dan PT [koefisien determinasi (R 2), adjusted R 2 and root mean squares error (RMSE) masing-masing 85,3%, 85,1% dan 0,305]. Pendugaan NKT domba jantan Yankasa dari BB dan ukuran-ukuran testis merupakan alat potensial untuk produksi dan pengembangan ruminansia kecil di Nigeria.