Effect of energy flushing pre-mating and during mating season on production and reproduction performance of Zaraibi goats

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Animal Production Research Institute, Sheep and Goat Research Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine if short-term feeding of high energy diet (pre- and during mating) have any stimulatory effects on body condition score (BCS), live body weight (LBW) and reproductive performance of Zaraibi does. Twenty-four healthy mature does at 31-34 months old and weighed 38-41 kg were randomly allocated in equal numbers (n=12) into control and treatment groups. The control group (low energy=4193 Kcal/kg) was nourished basal diet consisted of concentrate feed mixture (CFM) and berseem hay (BH) at ratio 40:60. In the treatment group (high energy = 4469 Kcal/kg), the protected fat (Mgnaback) ® was added to the basal diet at the rate of 5% of total dry matter intake. Submitting of energy flushing were 21 days before introducing the fertile buck for mating (pre-mating) and continued 42 days during the breeding period (mating season). The total experimental period was 63 days. Thereafter, all does were again fed low energy (control basal diet) by the end 
of mating season until parturition. The BCS (based on 1 - 5 scoring classes) and LBW was estimated at start of trial and at the end of each stage including; pre-mating, mating, at the days of 140 gestation and one day after parturition. The kids were weighed one day after birth.
The obtained results show no effects for energy levels on BCS and LBW. Contrariwise, during gestation period, BCS and LBW recorded significant increase (P<0.05) with high energy level (3.8 point and 51.8 kg) compared with low energy (3.3 point and 45.2 kg), respectively. However, pregnancy rate, number of kids born, fertility rate, kidding numbers, triplets rate and kid birth weight were higher (P<0.05) with the high energy supplementation than low energy level. It could be concluded that short-term supplementation with dietary energy pre-and during mating can have a beneficial effect on BCS, LBW and reproductive performance of Zaraibi does.

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