Heterosis on morphometric traits of crossbreds from Anglo Nubian and Etawah Grade goats

Abstract

Crossbreeding was applied to increase production performance of local goats. This study was conducted to evaluate the heterosis effect of morphometric traits in crossbred does produced from a mating between Anglo Nubian (AN) and Etawah Grade (PE) goats. A total of 34 does of AN, 66 F-1 ANxPE and 40 PE were used to analyze heterosis effect of morphometric traits. Data were analyzed using general linear model with age and genotype as fixed effects. Morphometric traits were affected significantly by genotype (P<0.05), but head with, body length and chest width were not. Heterosis of body weight, head length, head width, ear length, ear width, body length, heart girth, chest width, wither height, hip height, hip width, foreleg length, rear leg length, tail length, tail width were -2.75, -2.60, -2.09, -13.79, -3.90, 0.21, -3.82, 0.14, -3.1, -5.42, 6.06, -6.16, -5.88, -9.44 and 2.88%, respectively. Crossbreeding of Anglo Nubian and Etawah Grade resulted in low heterosis effects of morphometric traits. This study indicated crossbreeding of Anglo Nubian and Etawah grade need to be considered.