Preliminary evaluation of growth and conformation traits of local goats and Nubians upgraded by a black Boer line in Taiwan

International audienceAbstract The goal of this research, conducted in the mostsouthern part of Taiwan, was to create a new genotype: the“Hengchun Black Goat” (HB). Nubian (NU) goats were firstcrossed with a local breed, the Taiwan native (TN), then the F1 females were crossed with the imported black Boer (BO)bucks. The upgraded genotypes were then compared withthe parental breeds and Kinmen (KM), another local breed,for growth traits and body conformation. The study concerned 1,136 kids born between 2005 and 2007. The analysed traits were body weight (BW), average daily gain and three linear measurements, namely height at withers, body length and chest girth. The results indicated that environmental factors, sex, birth and rearing type, dam parity and birth year had significant effects from birth to 6 months of age. The same differences persisted to 1 year. At 6 months of age, the least square means of BW were 16.2, 19.2, 25.1, 32.0, 23.9, 23.8, 23.0 and 23.9 kg, for KM, TN, NU, 1/2BO, 3/4BO, 7/8BO, BO and HB, respectively. These first results also indicate that the growth performances of the newly created line, Hengchun Black, were equivalent to those of Boer goats

Amyloid beta Protein and Alzheimer's Disease: When Computer Simulations Complement Experimental Studies

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