Abstract

MENDEZ, Mildred et al. Persistence of milk production of Alpine goats in Cuba. Cuban J. Agric. Sci. [online]. 2019, vol.53, n.1, pp.1-5.  Epub Feb 05, 2018. ISSN 0864-0408.

A total of 1,365 milk weighings from 455 goats of Alpine genotype were used, with lactation number between one and six, distributed in five units in the farm "Dagame", belonging to the Empresa Genética "Los Naranjos", located in Artemisa province, where parturitions occurred between 2005 and 2008. The objective was to determine non-genetic factors that affect the persistence of lactation and estimate its correlation with total milk production. A generalized mixed model was applied by the SAS MIXED procedure version 9.3 (2013), where fixed effects like herd, parturition year, parturition season (January- May and June-December) and lactation number were included, as well as the animal nested within each herd as random effect. In addition, the duration of lactation was included as a covariate. To estimate Pearson correlations, the CORR procedure of SAS was applied. Persistence was 53.6 % and the studied non-genetic factors were significant. The phenotypic correlations of persistence with total milk were 0.26. It can be concluded that persistence of lactation had a low phenotypic correlation, in relation to milk production and duration of lactation. Further researches should be conducted with larger samples and genealogical information to recommend its inclusion in genetic improvement programs.

Keywords : milk weighing; Alpine; lactation; correlation.

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