1General commition for agriculture scientific research, Damascus, Syria
2Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, El-Gamma street, 12613 Giza, Egypt
3Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University, Syria
4General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Damascus, Syria
Abstract
SUMMARY Data of 554 Damascus kids were used during 2007 to investigate the effects of some environmental factorson birth weight (BW), weaning weight at 60 days of age (WW) and average daily gain (ADG). These factors were parity of doe, month of kidding, type of birth and sex of kid. This study was carried out at Karhta station belonging to the General Commission for Scientific Agriculture Research, Syria. Analysis of variance showed that parity had significant effect (P< 0. 01) only on weaning weight. The effects of month of kidding and sex of kid were significant on weaning weight and average daily gain.Whereas, type of birth had significant (P< 0. 01) effect on all the studied traits (BW, WW and ADG). It was concluded that the birth weight, weaning weight and average daily gain for Damascus kids in Syria are comparable to those in other countries. Therefore, convenient environmental and management conditions could play a major role in improving these traits. Additionally, it is probable that crossbreeding Damascus goats with other local breeds in Syria may improve these traits for local breeds.