Abstract
Aim:To study the pattern of mortality as affected by age, season and various diseases in local goats of Rohilkhand region maintained at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly.Materials and Methods:Post-mortem records of 12 years (2000-01 to 2011-12) were used, and total 243 mortality data were collected and analyzed. The causes of mortality were classified into seven major classes viz. digestive disorders, respiratory disorders, cardiovascular disorders, musculoskeletal disorder, parasitic disorders, mixed disorders (combination of digestive, respiratory, parasitic, and cardiovascular disorders) and miscellaneous disorders (cold, hypoglycemia, emaciation, endometritis, traumatic injury, etc.).Results:The average mortality was 10.93%. The overall mortality was more during rainy season followed by winter and summer season. The mortality in 4-6 months of age was high (2.52%) followed by 0-1 month (2.34%) and 2-3 months (1.35%). The average mortality among adult age groups (>12 months) was 3.42%. The mortality showed declining trend with the advancement of age up to 3 months and then again increased in 4-6 months age group. The digestive diseases (3.51%) followed by respiratory diseases (1.89%) and parasitic diseases (1.48%) contributed major share to the total mortality occurred and the remaining disorders were of lesser significance in causing death in goats. There is significant (p<0.01; χ2=55.62) association between year with season and age with the season (p<0.05, χ2=16.083) found in the present study.Conclusion:This study confirms that overall mortality rate averaged 10.93% (ranged between 1.10% and 25.56%) over 12 years under semi-intensive farm condition. It was generally higher in rainy season. The mortality remains higher in kids particularly under 1 month of age. The digestive diseases contributed major share to overall mortality.
Highlights
More than 95% of the goat population is found in developing countries [1]
The overall mortality rate was 10.93%, which varied from 1.10% (2006-07) to 25.56% (2004-05) (Table-1)
The lower mortality rate in the particular years could be due to small number of kids born in that particular year, more kid born in favorable kidding season and better managemental conditions in comparison with the years having higher mortality
Summary
More than 95% of the goat population is found in developing countries [1]. India possesses 135.17 million goats [2] and around 26.4% of total livestock in the country, ranking second in goat population of the world. Goat contributes 3.7% (4.8 MT) of the India’s total milk (127.90 MT) production [3]. Commercial goat production is gaining momentum, because of good economic prospects of goat rearing under the intensive and semi-intensive system. Under organized farm mortality due to one or other reason is the matter of concern for producers because it is directly linked with economic loss. Kumar [6], reported estimated losses due to diseases in goats were 23.22% of net returns and 5.21% of gross returns. Economic losses due to mortality caused by various diseases in Copyright: The authors.
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