Devising a selection strategy for the Jamunapari goat for improving lactation performance

Area of Science:

• Animal Genetics and Breeding
• Dairy Science
• Quantitative Genetics

Background:

• The Jamunapari goat breed is vital for milk production.
• Improving lactation traits is crucial for economic viability.
• Genetic potential assessment is needed for effective breeding strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the genetic parameters of Jamunapari goats for lactation traits.
• To formulate an optimal selection strategy for enhancing milk yield and lactation length.
• To identify early selection criteria for efficient genetic improvement.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a dataset of 4049 phenotypic records for milk yield and lactation length from 1990-2019.
• Employed the Average Information Restricted Maximum Likelihood (AIREML) animal model.
• Estimated genetic parameters including heritability and genetic correlations using repeatability and first-parity models.

Main Results:

• Across-parity heritability estimates for milk yield traits were low to moderate (0.06-0.12).
• First-parity heritability estimates for milk yield traits were moderate (0.16-0.26), indicating selection potential.
• High positive genetic correlation between 90-day milk yield (MY90) and other lactation traits (MY140, TMY) was observed.

Conclusions:

• First-parity 90-day milk yield (MY90) is a viable and effective criterion for selecting Jamunapari goats.
• Implementing MY90 as a single-trait selection criterion can drive genetic improvement in lactation performance.
• The findings support targeted breeding programs for enhanced Jamunapari goat milk production.