Growth measures of Libyan goat breeds and their crosses.

ABSTRACTThis study was conducted at Bier- Alghanem Experiment Station, 80 km SouthWest Tripoli. The aim was to assess the growth traits of Local breeds; Mahali (M),Targhi (T), Tibawy (Tb)); imported Breeds; Cyprus Damascus (D), MurcianoGranadina (S)), Reciprocal Crosses of Local breeds, and crosses of Mahali breed withimported breeds. Traits studied included birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW),yearling weight (YW) and daily gain until weaning (DGW). Analysis of variance (SASGLM) was used to analyze the data. The model included: Year, type of birth, sex, andbreed or type of crossing where all managed as fixed effects. The results indicatedsignificant effect of year, sex and type of birth (P < 0.05). Local breeds showed nosignificant differences in pre-weaning traits but post weaning traits were significantlydifferent (P < 0.05). The reciprocal crosses of local breeds and those of Mahali withimported breeds showed differences indicating maternal and genetic maternal effects.Large variation within the crosses indicated differences within each breed and thatselection within pure breeds could improve the crosses.