Genetic variability in the body weight of Sudan desert goats

Abstract. Data on 586 kids from 30 bucks and 120 does of Sudan desert goats was used in the present study. The study aimed at investigating the genetic variations of body weight at various ages. Range of heritability estimates for body weight from birth to 6th month was 0.04–0.54. The estimates from dam component ranged 0.28–0.68 which was higher than that from sire component estimates. The genetic correlations for body weight at various ages were substantially high, ranged from 0.51–0.99 as sire, dam and dam nested in sire components. Phenotypic correlations of body weight at various ages ranged from 0.43–0.99 with differences being significant (P<0.01). Low to high environmental correlations (0.10–0.33) were encountered as dam component. However, the random effect of sire was found to be significantly (P<0.01) positively correlated.