Genetic improvement of the Kenya Dual Purpose Goat: Infl uence of economic values and prospects for a practical breeding programme

Abstract

This study determined the influence of economic values on genetic gain and explored the prospects for a practical breeding programme for the Kenya Dual Purpose Goat. The economic values for production traits (live weight (direct), live eight (maternal), milk yield and consumable meat) and functional traits (doe weight, number of kids weaned, kidding frequency and rate, doe weaning and survival rate, pre- and post-weaning survival rate, and residual feed intake for yearlings and does) in the breeding goal addressed the smallholder production system. There was a potential for genetic progress in the breeding-goal traits even by using simple selection criteria. In the breeding programme, the pre-dicted genetic gains per year for milk yield were 0.737 and 0.047 kg for the sires of sires and dams of dams pathways, respectively. The required population size of 2500 does in the nucleus would be attained within ten years after the start of the breeding programme. The availability of a simple breeding programme for the Kenya Dual Purpose Goat offers enormous opportunities for private large-scale fl ocks or for fl ocks owned by parastatal or research organisations to exploit genetic and economic benefi ts from the breeding programme.