Vol. 9, Special Issue 4 (2020)

Author(s):
DK Karna, AP Acharya, BC Das, GD Nayak and MR Dibyadarshini

Abstract:
The present investigation was conducted to study the body weight and measurements of Ganjam goats, their inter-relationship and predictability of the body weight from body measurements at around birth, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age. Data on body weight (kg), body length (cm), wither height (cm) and chest girth (cm) of Ganjam goats of Odisha were recorded in 1249 goats with 607 males and 642 females during the period 2015 to 2017. The correlation coefficients of the body weight, body length, wither height and chest girth for all the age groups were found to be positive and moderate to high in magnitude and statistically significant (P<0.01). All the regression models developed with each of the three body measurements were found to be statistically highly significant (P<0.01) and the R2 value ranged from 15 percent to 89 percent across age groups. Chest girth had higher correlation coefficient with the body weight as compared to other two body measurements in almost all the age groups and accounted for maximum variation in the body weight. The best-fitted regression equations were -7.48+0.07*BL+0.06*WH+0.16*CG for age group 1(0-2 month), the equation: -12.84+ 0.12*BL +0.32*CG for age group 2(3 month), the equation: -10.20 + 0.37 *CG for age group 3(6 month), the equation: -15.48+0.07*BL+0.10*WH+0.34*CG for age group 4 (9 month) and the equation: -13.95+0.27*BL +0.25*CG for age group 5 (12 month). It was concluded that the body length, wither height and chest girth at 0 to one year age in Ganjam goats can be used to predict live weight. Chest girth was the most important predictor of the live weight. The prediction equation developed can be used in the absence of weighing scale to predict the body weight with fair accuracy in the field condition.