CONSTRAINTS MILITATING AGAINST GOAT PRODUCTION IN ADAMAWA STATE

Abstract

In the tropics, small ruminants have low productivity partly due to slow growth rate which had been attributed to disease, poor nutrition, managerial factors and non-genetic factors such as age and parity of dam, sex and type of birth. The study was carried out to investigate the constraints of goats in Adamawa state. The design of the experiment was based on supplements offered. The result obtained in the study showed that: gestation length was short in groups receiving maize bran and cotton seed cake but longer in the control group and significant differences (P<0.05) existed between the different groups. Twinning was recorded only in the groups receiving maize bran and cotton seed cake and no significant differences existed. The birth weight of the F1 kids showed significant (P<0.001) differences between the groups, the highest was recorded in the control group while the least was recorded in the group receiving maize bran due to incidence of twinning. This indicates that supplementation increases productivity.