An analysis of the variation of the lactation curve of small East African goats
Date
1994Author
Wahome, R.G
Carles, A.B
Schwartz, H.J
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Lactation curves were fitted to 267 lactations from Small East African goats kept under arid and semi-arid pastoral conditions. The lactations were recorded over a period of 4 years between 1984 and 1987. Parameters obtained from fitting the equation of Wood (1967) (Y(t) = Atbe−ct) were subjected to statistical analysis. The factors analyzed included vegetation, parity, year, litter size, weight and age of the doe. The parameters described various sections of the lactation curve, that is, the level of yield (intercept) (A), the ascending phase to a peak (b) and the descending phase to drying up (c). Vegetation (P < 0.01) and year (P < 0.05) significantly influenced the three parameters of the lactation, while parity, litter size and doe weight only influenced (P < 0.01) level of production. Lactation curves were constructed from the parameters obtained from fitting the equation
URI
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0921448894900531http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/34970
Citation
Small Ruminant Research Volume 15, Issue 1, December 1994, Pages 1–7Publisher
Univesity of Nairobi Department of Animal Production