Genetic Evaluation of Growth Traits of Black Bengal Goat

Black Bengal goat is the heritage and one of the potential genetic resources of Bangladesh. Least-squares means for body weights at birth, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age were 1.09, 5.12, 8.02, 10.92 and 14.47 kg, respectively. Sex of the kid has significant (P<0.05) effect on body weights at 6, 9 and 12 months of age. Type of birth and parity of the dam has significant (P<0.01) effect on birth weight only, whereas season of birth affected (P<0.05) all the body weight traits. Heritability estimates for body weights at birth, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age were 0.45, 0.47, 0.45, 0.49 and 0.47, respectively. Genetic correlations between body weight traits ranged from 0.34 to 0.83, whereas phenotypic correlations ranged from 0.34 to 0.90. The high heritability estimates obtained for body weights indicated that mass selection would generate substantial selection responses at all stages of growth.