The effects of genotype and week of lactation on milk yield, udder dimensions and linear body measurements of non-dairy ewes

Abstract

One hundred and ninety two records were taken weekly for twenty four (24) weeks from West African Dwarf (WD), the Yankasa (YN) and the West African Dwarf X Yankasa crossbred (XB) sheep. The traits evaluated were milk yield (MK), linear body measurements (LB) such as height at withers, (HT), body length (BL), heart girth (HG), shoulder width (SW), Tail length (TA), Neck length (NL), Neck circumference (NC), Face length (FA), Hind leg length (HL), Foreleg length (FL), Face length (FA), Ear length (EA), Head width (HW) and Rump height (RH) together with the following Udder dimensions (UD): Udder circumference (UC), Teat length (TL) and Teat circumference (TC). There was significant (P<0.05) influence of genotype on MK, WHT, HT, BL, TA, FL, HL, FA, EA and RH. The WD ewes produced more milk than either the YN or XB enes. Average daily milk yield (ml) was 122.25, 90.88 ana 108.8. The YN genotype was superior in all LBs except SW and NC than the WD and XB in the three genotypes. Height at withers was 59.08, 69.21 and 61.81 cm; BL 48.54, 55.08 and 54.49 cm and RH 62.88, 75.11 and 68.46 cm for WD, YN and XB enes respectively. Since milk offtake is related to body weight and some linear body measurements, selection for WT, HG, SW, NL NC, UC and TL in WD ewes could lead to higher milk and mutton production.

Milk yield and composition of West African dwarf (wad) goats fed palm kernel cake supplement for conventional concentrate

“…The increase in milk yield observed during early lactation and the decrease in the yield towards the end of lactation in this study are in agreement with the report of Akpa et al (2002) and Adewumi (2002) who reported an increase in early lactation within 2-5weeks post-partum and thereafter a decline towards the end of lactation in Red Sokoto goats, Yankasa and WAD ewes. The increase in milk yield in early lactation in this study can be linked to the efficiency of secretory cells (Capuco et al, 2001), however the influence of PKC as it replaced CC was apparent in the milk yield across the treatment.…”

Body Conformation With Daily Milk Yield Relationship on Buffaloes

“…Phenotypic correlations were positive and highly significant (P≤0.01) between BDL and BW with DMY, the BW had the highest phenotypic association with daily milk yield (0.52), while HAS showed non-significant association with DMY (Table 3), these outcomes get along with that of [9] and [10]. Previous studies [1], [14]- [16], determined positive and significant correlations between body conformation and milk yield. Buffalo appearance characteristics can be used to anticipate the capacity for profitable utilization and may participate to creating efficient type when implemented in buffalo selection programs [5].…”

“…Buffaloes in Iraqi are varying in morphological variations, milk yield and have larger body dimensions compared to Egyptian, Indian, and Pakistani buffaloes [1]. The last estimation of Iraqi buffaloes was approximately 285,537 head, dispensed on fifteen governorates.…”

Relationship between Body Weight and Body Dimensions in Adult Domestic Cavy, using Principal Component Analysis

“…[27] reported similar findings in broiler chickens. The high positive correlation values indicated that as live body weight increases, the linear body measurement could also increase, the implication is that, the traits could be selected for at the same time [28] The high correlations also indicated that the total size of the animal is a function of both the length and body circumference as reported by Raymond [29].…”