Reproductive performance in three goat breeds under dry tropic conditions in Guerrero, Mexico

THE AIM OF THE PRESENT STUDY WAS TO ASSESS THE REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF THREE GOAT GENOTYPES UNDER SEMI-EXTENSIVE DRY TROPIC BREEDING CONDITIONS IN GUERRERO, MEXICO. THE EXPERIMENTAL CENTER IS LOCATED AT 18° 15´52´´ N. THE ANIMALS USED IN THE STUDY WERE 7 MALES -TWO CREOLE, THREE CELTIBERIAN AND TWO NUBIAN- AND 86 DOES -31 CREOLES, 30 CELTIBERIAN AND 28 NUBIAN-. FEMALES WERE BRED DURING THE BREEDING SEASON (OCT-DEC) BY CONTROLLED MATING, USING MALES OF THE SAME BREED. LAMBING OCCURRED DURING SPRING. FERTILITY RATE WAS SIMILAR (P > 0.05) BETWEEN CREOLE (58.1%) AND NUBIAN (71.4%) GROUPS AND BETWEEN CREOLE AND CELTIBERIAN GROUPS (58.1% VS . 33.3%, RESPECTIVELY); HOWEVER, THE FERTILITY RATE WAS HIGHER (P > 0.05) FOR THE NUBIAN BREED WHEN COMPARED WITH CELTIBERIANS. CREOLE GOATS EXHIBITED A HIGHER PROLIFI CITY INDEX (1.4 ± 0.51 KIDS/KIDDING DOE; P 0.05) WAS FOUND IN THE LENGTH OF THE POSTPARTUM ANESTROUS BETWEEN CREOLE (157 ± 0.28) AND NUBIAN BREEDS. WE CONCLUDE THAT FROM THE BREEDS INTRODUCED INTO THE REGION, THE NUBIAN GROUP PRESENTED A REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR SIMILAR TO LOCAL CREOLE GOATS, BUT ITS POSTPARTUM ANESTRUS WAS LONGER THAN IN THIS LOCAL CAPRINE GENOTYPE.