Influence of breed, year and parturition on the production of goats milk

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of breed, order and year of parturition on the production of goat milk. We used data from the Agricultural Research Corporation of the RN - EMPARN in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, municipality of Cruzeta, recorded during the period of October 2004 to July 2008. The data refer to the lactation of 51 female goats (22 Saneen breed, 11 Alpine Brown, 8 Alpine American, 6 Toggenburg and 4 crossbreed). The goats were of different orders of parturition, 49 animals from the 1st. order of parturition, 20 from the 2nd. , 7 of the 3rd. and 3 from the 4th., with mean production of 1.37 kg of milk per day. There was no significant effect (P> 0.05) of parturition on milk production. The breeds Toggenburg and Alpine Brown had an average production of milk per day higher than the other breeds with medium of 1.64 and 1.51 kg / day versus 1.22, 1.29 and 1.18 kg / days for the crossbreed, Saanen and Alpine American breeds. The year of calving affected significantly (P <0.05) the average milk production, the year 2005 showed an average of 1.60 kg / day higher than the other years that were below 1.37 kg / day. Keywords: Goat milk, milk production, parturition, breed.