PHENOTYPIC SELECTION ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF BLACK BENGAL KIDS

In the first step, birth weights and weights at 9 and 12 months were analysed and their variability were studied. Birth weight of kids had large within breed variation ranging from 0.50 to 1.60 kg. There were more than 100 kids with birth weights ranging from 1.2 to 1.6 kg. The birth weight of kids increased with the increase of kidding weight of dams. The weights of kids at 9 and 12 months also showed large within variation ranging from 5.0 to 18.0 kg and 16.0 to 19.0 kg respectively. In the second step, these existing large within breed variations were exploited selecting best animals for further mating. The birth weight of selected group($1.13{\pm}0.2kg$) was significantly(p<0.01) higher than the random group($0.93{\pm}0.05kg$). The weights in selected group for 3 and 6 months were $4.94{\pm}0.04$ and $8.40{\pm}0.05kg$ and that of random group was $3.99 {\pm}0.08$ and $7.07{\pm}0.11kg$ respectively and differences wee significant. Significantly higher average daily gains were noticed for selected group ($42.7{\pm}0.43g/day$) as against random group($33.3{\pm}0.81g/day$). From the results it may be concluded that selection and mating of best performing animals have some effect on the improvement of growth performance of kids which may be exploited for future planning and development in the field of goat production.