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Abstract
Data on some linear traits along with age, body weight (BW) at breeding, parity and previous litter size (LZ) of 1008 pregnant Black Bengal goats were analysed using one-way Analysis of Variance. Higher age, heavier BW at breeding, higher parity order resulted more (P < 0.01) chance of triplet or quadruplet births as compared to that of single birth. Larger previous LZ resulted larger (P < 0.01) LZ in subsequent kidding. Most of the linear traits were higher (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) in goats bearing multiple foetuses than in the goats bearing single foetus. The results of stepwise discriminant function suggested that heart girth, punch girth, BW, distance between trochanter major and pelvic triangle area might be the predictive indices for higher LZ.
Acknowledgements
The necessary support and assistance during the project work extended by the Vice Chancellors of West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences and Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal, India, are duly acknowledged. The authors wish to thank the farmers for their regular help and cooperation during the investigation in the field.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Fund for Basic, Strategic and Frontier Application Research in Agriculture (NFBSFARA) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India [grant number NFBSRA/PCN/AP-06/2006-07].