Preprint
Article

Yield and Milk Quality Parameters at Different Stages of Lactation from a Small Herd of Nguni, Boer and Non-Descript Goats Raised in an Extensive Production System

Altmetrics

Downloads

1380

Views

869

Comments

0

A peer-reviewed article of this preprint also exists.

Submitted:

10 May 2017

Posted:

11 May 2017

You are already at the latest version

Alerts
Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the yield and quality parameters of milk from 60 indigenous South African goats of different genotypes namely Nguni, Boer and Non- descript reared under a free ranging system. Milk yield and quality parameters (milk fat, protein, lactose, solid non-fat and minerals) from Nguni (10), Boer (10) and Non-descript (10) goats was measured and analysed per week at each stage of lactation. Result showed that, Nguni goats produced (1.2±0.09, 1.3±0.11 and 1.2±0.07 litres per day) more milk (P ˂ 0.05) at early, mid and late stages of lactation than Boer (0.6±0.10, 1.0±0.17 and 0.6±0.09 litres per day) and Non-descript (0.3±0.10, 0.3±0.12 and 0.3±0.09 litres per day) goats, respectively. The mean value of milk fat, protein and lactose content from Nguni goat was (3.98, 3.54 and 5.31); Boer goat (2.9, 3.59 and 5.04) and Non-descript goat (4.05, 3.39 and 5.02), respectively. There was significant effect (P ˂ 0.05) of genotypes on milk fat, milk magnesium and sodium contents of Nguni, Boer and Non-descript goats. It could be concluded that, Nguni goat produced more milk than Boer and Non-descript goats, but the Non-descript goat had higher mean percentage of milk fat compared to Nguni and Boer goats.
Keywords: 
Subject: Biology and Life Sciences  -   Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Zoology
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
Prerpints.org logo

Preprints.org is a free preprint server supported by MDPI in Basel, Switzerland.

Subscribe

© 2024 MDPI (Basel, Switzerland) unless otherwise stated