57TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FOR ANIMAL PRODUCTION 17-20.September.2006, Antalya, TURKEY Free Communications Sheep and Goat Production, Poster Presentation: Session S23.52, Abstract No: 485

THE EFFECTS OF NORTH AMERICAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN GENOTYPES ON TURKISH ANGORA GOATS Halil GUNES Istanbul University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Department of Animal Breeding and Husbandry,34320 Avcilar, Istanbul, Turkey. [email protected]

Summary: Angora goats have developed their characteristics around Ankara which was used to be known as “Angora”. Angora goats are being bred for the production of mohair. Although its origin is Anatolia (Ankara) the production characteristics of Angora goats in other countries, particularly in North American (Texan) and South African are higher than Turkish Angora goats. Studies are being carried out since 1982 in Anadolu (Cifteler) State Farm to improve the production characteristics of Turkish Angora goats. The aim of the study here is to investigate the effects of firstly North American and then South African genotypes separately on Turkish Angora goats. In the statistical analyses of data general linear models (GLM) procedure was used. The use of North American genotype provided an evident improvement in the production and quality of mohair but not in the body improvement and live-weight of the animals in this population. Similarly, South African genotype had an improvement effect on mohair production but not on live-weight in the crossbred generation. As a result, it was determined that to improve the production characteristics of Turkish Angora goats, besides using the advantages of North American and South African genotypes, more emphasis should be given on the selection and culling procedures, two shearings per year should be applied and husbandry and feeding practices should be improved. Keywords: Angora goat, crossbreeding, mohair.

Introduction Angora goats have developed their characteristics around Ankara which was used to be known as “Angora” (8). Angora goats are being bred for the production of mohair. Although its origin is Anatolia (Ankara) the production characteristics of Angora goats in other countries, particularly in North American (Texan) and South African are higher than Turkish Angora goats (1, 10, 11, 12). Studies are being carried out since 1982 in Anadolu (Cifteler) State Farm to improve the production characteristics of Turkish Angora goats (3, 4, 6, 13). This study was carried out to investigate the effects of crossbreeding the North American and South African genotypes for improving the important yielding characteristics levels of Turkish Angora goat population. Material and Method The study was conducted at the Anadolu (Cifteler-Eskisehir) State Farm. While the pure breeding is continued in the herd, bucks imported from United States (Texas) and crossbreds born from inseminations using South African semen were used. Synthetically groups achieved by crossing those crossbreds among themselves were also established (3, 4, 6). 1

Primarily the North American and secondly the South African genotypes’ effects were separately investigated. Body development of kids, mohair yield and characteristics, the body weight of does before insemination (autumn), body weights, some reproductive characteristics levels and effects of some environmental factors on these characteristics were investigated. The following linear models were used in the statistical analysis of the investigated characteristics. For kids For does

: :

Yijklmno = µ + Gi + Sj + Tk + Al + Wm + Jn + eijklmno Yilno= µ + Gi + Al + Jn + eilno

The symbols in this model are; Yijklmmno µ Gi Sj Tk Al Wm Jn eijklmno

: Observed trait yield value of a random individual : Expected mean : Effect of genotype (i=TT, TB1, AmF1, AmF2, AmB1, AfF1) : Effect of sex (j: Male and female) : Effect of birth type (k: Single and twin) : Effect of age (l: 1, 2, 3, ... and 7) : Effect of birth week (m: April 1, ...., May 1) : Effect of year (n: 1984, ....., 1998) : Random error.

It was assumed that there was not any important interaction among the investigated factors, and the effect proportions of these factors were determined by “least squares means” method (5, 9). The statistical significance control of the differences among the mean values was done by “Duncan-test” (2). GLM procedure of SAS program was used for statistical analysis (7). Results The results determined for the characteristics investigated in the study are presented below in tables. Table 1. The reproductive traits of Turkish and North American genotype Angora goats does and survival rates of kids. Genotype TT TB1 AmF1 AmF2 AmB1 Total American -%25 %25-50 %50 %50-75 +%75 Total a,b

Does number at mating 5086 63 716 8 12 5885

n 4493 53 584 4 11 5145

% 88.34a 84.12b 81.56b 50.00b 91.66ab 87.43

n 371 1 19 391

% 8.26a 1.89b 3.25b 7.60

8115 455 1736 90 105 10501

7159 400 1486 80 90 9215

88.22a 87.91a 85.60a 88.89a 85.71a 87.75

887 49 227 11 20 1194

12.39b 12.25b 15.28b 13.75b 22.22a 12.95

Kidding

Twinning

Survival rates of kids (105. days) n % 2394 98.6b 645 98.4b 1235 98.6b 133 100.0a 130 97.7ab 4537 98.6 6120 1408 1980 262 165 9935

98.8a 98.9a 98.9a 98.5a 98.2a 98.8

: Differences between genotype groups with different superscripts are statistically significant (P