Body weight is a crucial trait that aids farmers in decision-making regarding vaccinations, feeding, marketing and selection during the breeding programs. The study was conducted to investigate the effect of sex and a...
详细信息
Body weight is a crucial trait that aids farmers in decision-making regarding vaccinations, feeding, marketing and selection during the breeding programs. The study was conducted to investigate the effect of sex and age on body weight (BW), body condition score (BCS) and some blood biochemical parameters (BBP) and to determine the correlation amongst BW, BCS and BBP of non-descriptive goats at Santombe communal farming system. Blood samples were collected from 33 apparently healthy goats (27 females and 6 males) aged 6 - 8 tooth with a mean BW (32.62 ± 11.39 kg) while BCS (3.17 ± 0.39) was taken by means of palpating the lumbar area, sternum and the ribs. The BCS was rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being emaciated and 5 being extremely fat. The blood samples were analyzed using Cobas intergra 400 plus chemistry analyzer, Roche for biochemical parameters such as total protein (TP), urea, cholesterol (Chol), magnesium (Mg), phosphorous (P) and calcium (Ca) with mean values of 72.79 ± 5.84 mg/l, 2.76 ± 1.16 mmol/l, 2.08 ± 0.40 mmol/l, 1.09 ± 0.09 mmol/l, 2.30 ± 0.49 mmol/l and 2.45 ± 0.12 mmol/l respectively. Sex and age had significant effects on BW, BCS and some biochemical parameters. The BW and BCS for males were significantly higher than for females. Correlation results indicated that BW had a positive relationship with BCS (r = 0.677), TP and BW (r = 0.400), Chol and BCS (r = 0.4025) and Mg and TP (r = -0.075). Age and sex had significant influences on BW, BCS and some blood biochemical parameters. Consideration of the factors can aid in determining the accurate diagnosis of the nutritional status of goats.
This study presents an integrated examination of livestock production constraints associating with communal farming in six district municipalities (DMs) of the Eastern Cape Province. We collected data on demographic a...
详细信息
This study presents an integrated examination of livestock production constraints associating with communal farming in six district municipalities (DMs) of the Eastern Cape Province. We collected data on demographic and socio-economic factors from 271 farmers randomly given questionnaires. About 26 Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) owned by communal farmers were surveyed to ascertain the condition of grazing land, meanwhile, tick species and distribution on cattle and goats found in 158 sampling sites of the study area were also recorded. From the results, a total of 34,929 adult ticks belonging to five genera and 10 species were encountered. The most abundant tick genera were Rhipicephalus of the subgenus Boophilus (68.91%), Amblyomma (20.72%), Hyalomma (8.64%), Ixodes (1.22%), and Haemaphysalis (0.51%). By geographic distributions, Amblyomma and Rhipic
暂无评论