Almasri, O., Abou-Bakr, S., Ibrahim, M., kahil, O., Asaad, Z., Ghoush, M., Awad, M. (2023). LACTATION CURVE AND MILK PRODUCTION TRAITS OF SYRIAN DAMASCUS GOATS. Egyptian Journal of Animal Production, 60(1), 7-16. doi: 10.21608/ejap.2023.177189.1051
Obaida Almasri; Samy Abou-Bakr; Mohamed Abd El-Aziz Mohamed Ibrahim; Othman kahil; Ziyad Asaad; Mohammed Ghoush; Mohamed Attia Ahmed Awad. "LACTATION CURVE AND MILK PRODUCTION TRAITS OF SYRIAN DAMASCUS GOATS". Egyptian Journal of Animal Production, 60, 1, 2023, 7-16. doi: 10.21608/ejap.2023.177189.1051
Almasri, O., Abou-Bakr, S., Ibrahim, M., kahil, O., Asaad, Z., Ghoush, M., Awad, M. (2023). 'LACTATION CURVE AND MILK PRODUCTION TRAITS OF SYRIAN DAMASCUS GOATS', Egyptian Journal of Animal Production, 60(1), pp. 7-16. doi: 10.21608/ejap.2023.177189.1051
Almasri, O., Abou-Bakr, S., Ibrahim, M., kahil, O., Asaad, Z., Ghoush, M., Awad, M. LACTATION CURVE AND MILK PRODUCTION TRAITS OF SYRIAN DAMASCUS GOATS. Egyptian Journal of Animal Production, 2023; 60(1): 7-16. doi: 10.21608/ejap.2023.177189.1051
LACTATION CURVE AND MILK PRODUCTION TRAITS OF SYRIAN DAMASCUS GOATS
1General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Damascus, Syria.
2Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.
3Department of Agricultural Economic, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Syria.
Abstract
This study aimed to describe the lactation curve using the Wood’s function, estimate the milk production traits and investigate the non-genetic factors affecting both, the lactation curve and milk production traits of Syrian Damascus goats. A total number of 334 weekly test-day milk records were collected during the year 2019 on 98 Damascus goats at Karhta station, Syria. The least squares means of the studied lactation curve traits were 2.6 ± 0.05 kg for the initial milk yield after kidding (parameter a), 0.45 ± 0.011 kg/week for the rate of rise in milk production to peak lactation (parameter b), 0.09 ± 0.001 kg/week for the rate of decrease in milk production from peak to the end of lactation period (parameter c), 3.40 ± 0.05 kg for peak milk yield (PMY), 5.09 ± 0.08 weeks for peak week (PW) and 55.71 ± 0.54 % for persistency of lactation (P%). The estimates for milk production traits were 413 ± 5.98 kg, 199 ± 1.23 days, and 2.1 ± 0.02 kg/day for total milk yield (TMY), lactation period (LP), and daily milk yield (DMY), respectively. The results showed that parity exerted a highly significant (P < 0.01) effect on all the studied traits except PW and P%. Also, the month of kidding had a significant effect on all the studied parameters except P%. However, the type of birth had no significant effect on all the studied traits. It could be concluded that Wood’s function is a convenient tool to describe the lactation curve of Syrian Damascus goats. Also, Damascus goats showed a higher potentiality for milk production and a long lactation period under subtropical environmental conditions.