Performance of Toggenburg dairy goats in smallholder production systems of the eastern highlands of Kenya PDF

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Small Ruminant Research 83 (2009) 7–13 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Small Ruminant Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/smallrumres Performance of Toggenburg dairy goats in smallholder production systems of the eastern highlands of Kenya C.O. Ahuya a,∗ , J.M.K. Ojango b,d ...

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Performance of Toggenburg dairy goats in smallholder production systems of the eastern highlands of Kenya Julie M K Ojango Small Ruminant Research

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Small Ruminant Research 83 (2009) 7–13

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Small Ruminant Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/smallrumres

Performance of Toggenburg dairy goats in smallholder production systems of the eastern highlands of Kenya C.O. Ahuya a,∗ , J.M.K. Ojango b,d , R.O. Mosi c , C.P. Peacock a , A.M. Okeyo b a b c d

FARM-Africa, Kenya Country Office, P.O. Box 49502, Nairobi, Kenya International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya University of Nairobi, Department of Animal Production, P.O. Box 29053, Nairobi 00200, Kenya Animal Breeding and Genetics Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Egerton University, Box 536, 20107 Njoro, Kenya

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Article history: Received 19 March 2008 Received in revised form 12 September 2008 Accepted 17 November 2008 Available online 6 May 2009 Keywords: Toggenburg Smallholder farming Genetic parameters Goat milk

a b s t r a c t The use of exotic dairy goats in breeding programmes for smallholder production systems is popular in Eastern Africa. However, information on the performance of exotic breeds within these systems is scarce. This paper presents information on performance of Toggenburg dairy goats under smallholder production systems in a medium to high agricultural potential environment in Kenya under a community-based set-up as part of the characterization of its adaptive and productive attributes. Environmental factors affecting growth of 646 goats born in the environment, and fertility and milk production of 160 does from 1997 to 2005 were evaluated. Genetic parameters were also estimated for early growth traits. The average birth weight (BW) for 607 kids was 3.27 kg. Corrected weaning weights (CW), and average daily gain to weaning (ADG) for 646 kids were 19.12 kg and 136 g/day, respectively. The results indicated that the smallholder farmers were able to maintain comparably high levels of milk production in the first three parities (LMY), with yields of 475 ± 9 l in 201 days for 160 does in the first parity, 507 ± 9 l in 264 days from 130 does in the second parity and 513 ± 13 l in 296 days for 82 does in the third parity. Kidding intervals though initially long decreased with time to reasonable levels (302 ± 117 days). The heritability estimates obtained were low (0.23 ± 0.13 for BW, 0.18 ± 0.11 for CW and 0.14 ± 0.11 for ADG). Genetic correlations between the traits were also low. Genetic and phenotypic trends indicated little change in BW, CW and LMY over the years. The phenotypic trend in the kidding interval showed a reducing interval over time. The results demonstrated that the Toggenburg goats were able to perform and thrive reasonably well under the low-input farming conditions. © 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction Goat improvement programmes, when well planned and executed, offer great opportunities for improvements of livelihoods of some of the poorest farmers in developing countries (Okeyo et al., 2001; Peacock, 2005). Dairy goats have become increasingly popular among development

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +254 20 2732203. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (C.O. Ahuya). 0921-4488/$ – see front matter © 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.smallrumres.2008.11.012

agencies that target the resource poor smallholder farmers in mixed crop-livestock production systems in the Eastern African highlands where farm sizes are small, and crop yields are low (Peacock, 2005). These goats can play a significant role in improving the livelihoods of poor smallholders in these areas. Their small size and early maturity makes them especially suitable for use as a first step towards wealth creation. Dairy goat improvement strategies have mainly been crossbreeding of indigenous goats with exotic dairy types, resulting in crossbred populations with varying levels of exotic genes (Bradford, 1981; Ruvuna et al., 1988; Das et

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C.O. Ahuya et al. / Small Ruminant Research 83 (2009) 7–13

al., 1996). In Kenya, through the combined efforts of the government and Non Governmental Organizations (NGO), the population of crossbred dairy goats have tremendously increased from less than 20,000 in 1991, to over 160,000 in 2005 (FARM-Africa, 1997-2004; MoLFD, 2001–2005). The Toggenburg has been promoted as a preferred exotic dairy goat breed and used in many of the crossbreeding programmes in Kenya due to its ability to thrive under local and marginal conditions (Odenya, 1984) and to combining ability with the indigenous goat breeds, resulting in crossbreds that are superior in growth traits (Ahuya, 1987; Ruvuna et al., 1992; Okeyo et al., 1999) as well as for reproductive and milk traits (Okeyo et al., 1985; Ruvuna et al., 1988; Kiptarus et al., 2002; Ahuya et al., 2003b). However, information on the Toggenburg’s performance under local smallholder conditions has not been rigorously evaluated. Phenotypic and genetic parameter estimates for traits of economic importance under local farm conditions are also scanty, and yet such information is of practical significance for appropriate development of meaningful breeding programmes where the breed is involved. This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of Toggenburg goats on smallholder farms in marginal and high potential areas of Kenya, and to estimate genetic parameters for growth traits that could be used in breeding programmes for dairy goats in Kenya. 2. Materials and methods Data was obtained from smallholder farmers participating in the Food and Agricultural Research Management in Africa (FARM-Africa) goat improvement project in the Meru Central and South districts, which are located 250 km to the East of Nairobi on the slopes of Mt. Kenya. Due to its location on Mt. Kenya, Meru district has three different zones distinguishable by their altitude; lowland (...