Abstract
Egyptian Journal of Sheep and Goat Sciences, (2010) 5(1): 93-100 Growth measures of Libyan goat breeds and their crosses Hermas, S.A.; Ahtash, A.E. and Majid, A. This study was conducted at Bier-Alghanem Experiment Station, 80 km. south west Tripoli. The aim was to assess the growth traits of local breeds ; Mahali (M), Targhi (T), Tibawy (Tb); imported breeds; Cyprus Damascus (D) , Murciano Granadina (S), reciprocal crosses of Local Breeds and crosses of Mahali breed with imported breeds. Traits studied included birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), yearling weight (YW) and daily gain until weaning (DGW). Analysis of variance (SAS GLM) was used to analyse the data. The model included: year, type of birth, sex and breed or type of crossing where all managed as fixed effects. The results indicated significant effect of year,sex and type of birth (P< 0.05). Local breeds showed no significant differences in preweaning traits but post weaning traits were significantly different (P< 0.05). The reciprocal crosses of local breeds and those of Mahali with imported breeds showed differences indicating maternal and genetic and maternal effects. Large variation within the crosses indicated differences within each breed and that selection within pure breeds could improve the crosses. Key words: goat breeds, crossing, improvement. arabic 8 English 47