Simulated genetic gain of a close breeding program for Ardi goat in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Lack of a sustainable long-term breeding program in developing countries enhanced finding alternatives such as simulation solutions. The aim of this research work was to find solutions in order to simulate an optimized national Ardi goat breeding program under sub-tropical conditions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The simulated program was considered a close scheme of three tiers. They were nucleus, multiplier and commercial herds representing 1, 10, and 89%, respectively, of the total does populations (303,000 heads). The breeding nucleus structure was comprised of 10 selection groups (SG). The simulated scenarios resulted in predicting increment in meat and milk yield per doe by 0.153 kg and 0.145 l, respectively, under assumed genetic, production and physiological parameters. Furthermore, the bioinformatics solution provided simulated models of economically profitable. It is worthy to recommend a research work deal with providing reliable genetic estimates of Saudi national livestock in order to establish sustainable national breeding program.