Estimation of inbreeding and its effects on growth traits in Beetal goat

The purpose of the present study was to estimate the inbreeding coefficient and its effects on various growth traits in Beetal goat using pedigree records of 963 kids born to 38 sires and 287 dams over the period of 2004 to 2019. The inbreeding coefficients for each individual were obtained under animal model. The effects of inbreeding along with other fixed effects such as year of birth, sex of kid, type of birth, and dam's weight at kidding on growth traits viz., weight at birth (BWT), 3 (WT3), 6 (WT6), 9 (WT9), and 12 (WT12) months of age were studied using least-squares analysis. Additionally, average daily gain and Kleiber ratio up to weaning age (90 days) were studied under the same model. The overall inbreeding coefficient was low in magnitude (1.42%) and ranged from 0 to 25% over the study period. The significant (P < 0.05) increase in average inbreeding coefficient (%) over the years was observed among the studied population. Although, the effects of various factors had significant (P < 0.05) influence on growth traits under least-squares model, the regression of targeted traits on inbreeding were non-significant (P > 0.05) and the same ranged from - 0.06 to 0.04. The present findings indicated that there was no inbreeding depression among the growth traits of Beetal goat. However, as inbreeding (%) raised in recent years only, the scientific efforts must be taken to avoid inbreeding at resourced population by introducing new germplasms at earliest.