Meat from goats in Tanzania
Loading...
Date
1978
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
The shortage of protein of high biological value in
the tropics could be decreased by raising larger numbers
of indigenous ruminant livestock, and of increasing off
take and weight per animal destined for slaughter.
In
Tanzania, where there are about five million goats and
their meat is already very popular, improvement of goats
through better breeding, feeding and disease control
methods could lead to a several-fold increase in the
present annual production of 1.3 million goat carcasses.
The paucity of data on which to base goat improvement
methods was the major reason for undertaking this study.
A comparison was made in reproductive performance,
growth rate and carcass yield between the Tanzania
indigenous goats and the Tanzania x Boer and the Tanzania
x Kamorai goats.
The total numbers of animals involved
in the study, which was conducted between 1972 and 1976,
inclusive, were 7 sires, 177 dams and 559 progeny.
The study confirmed earlier untested theories that
the Tanzania goat, which belongs to the East African
breed type of goat, produces kids throughout the year.
There were, however, peak periods in which more dams
kidded than in other periods.
The total amount of
rain falling during a given period was the only environ
mental factor affecting the time of conception of the
dams (P < 0.001) .
This relationship seemed to be an
indirect one, in that more rain meant more forage growth-(ii)
and availability and therefore better body condition of
the dams.
Better fed dams ovulate, conceive when
mated, and maintain pregnancy to term more readily than
underfed dams.
The twinning rates and mortality of
kids have been reported in the-thesis.
The effects of year, sex, seasons and birth type,
whether singles or twins, on weight at various ages have
been reported.
The slight superiority of castrates
over the entire male kids in growth rate observed in
this thesis calls for more studies to see if the hormonal
patterns related to growth were different from those of
animals of similar sexes in other domestic livestock.
The heritability estimates for weight at birth, weaning,
one year and 72 weeks of age were 0.7 ± 0.10, 0.14 ± 0.14,
0.07 ± 0.11 and 0.017 ± 0.16, respectively.
The weight
of kids could, for practical purposes on the farms, be
predicted by the formula :
Weight (in kg) = - 4.22 ± 0.15 .+ (0.00806 ± 0.00007
x Girth (in cm)
x Length (in cm) .
(R2 = 88.2%)
The cold dressed carcass percentages of the Boer and
Kamorai crossbred and Tanzania purebred kids were 45.57,
45.34 and 45.34 per cent, respectively.
The areas of
the eye muscle (Longissimus dorsi) measured on the 10th
and 11th ribs of the male and castrated kids ranged
between 11.77 and 14.27 square centimetres.
The castrated
kids had more total lean, fat and bone than the entire(iii)
male kids.
The heritability estimates for cold dressing
percentage, total lean, total fat and total bone within
the carcass were 0.7, 0.3, 0.04 and 0.4, respectively.
It is concluded that this study has contributed to
the knowledge on meat goat production characteristics in
the tropics and will form a basis on which to plan the
breeding and management of commercial meat goats in
Tanzania.
Description
PhD Thesis
Keywords
Meat, Goat, Animal production, Tanzania goat