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Economic values of traits in the breeding goals defined by different dairy goat breeders’ associations in Kenya

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Abstract

The current study aimed at development of breeding objectives and estimation of the economic values for traits of economic importance to various dairy goat breeders associations. This was achieved through the development of a bio-economic model to derive economic values for the selected traits. The input and output parameters used represented the average performance of Saanen, Toggenburg and Alpine breeds. The gross margin was estimated using the R software. Economic values for milk yield (MY, kg), pre-weaning survival rate (PrSr, %), post-weaning survival rate, (PoSR, %), doe survival rate, (DoSR, %), and kidding rate, (Kr, %) were estimated based on fixed flock size and fixed feed resources scenarios. The findings indicate varied gross margin across the breeds; Saanen (US$ 116.17), Toggenburg (US$ 68.21) and Alpine (US$ -1.11). In both scenarios, the economic values in selected traits were positive for the three breeds except for milk yield in Alpine, which was negative in both fixed flock and fixed feed resources. The positive economic values of selected traits indicated a unit increase in genetic merit of these traits. The developed bio-economic model was able to estimate the gross margin of Saanen, Toggenburg and Alpine breeds represented by Nyanza Dairy Goat Breeders Association (NDGA), Meru Dairy Goat Breeders Association (MDGA) and Dairy Goat Association of Kenya (DGAK), respectively, reared under semi-intensive production system. The study offers an opportunity to evaluate genetic and economic merit of alternative strategies for dairy goats reared in semi-intensive production systems managed by various dairy goat breeders associations.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the lead institution (KALRO) policies but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the African Development Fund (AfDB), USAID and the Government of Kenya under the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP CGS/CRGs-AD-2019) for their financial support.

Funding

This work was supported by The Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP) jointly supported by Government of Kenya and World Bank (reference number, KCSAP CGS/CRGs-AD-2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Organization, Dairy Research Institute, P.O. Box 25-20117, Naivasha, Kenya

    R. W. Waineina

  2. Moi University, P.O. Box 3900-30100, Kesses, Eldoret, Kenya

    K. Ngeno

  3. Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Organization, Dairy Research Institute, P.O. Box 57811- 00200, City Square, Nairobi, Kenya

    E.D. Ilatsia

  4. Egerton University, P.O. Box 536-20115, Njoro, Kenya

    T.O. Okeno

Authors
  1. R. W. Waineina
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  2. K. Ngeno
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  3. E.D. Ilatsia
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  4. T.O. Okeno
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Contributions

All authors contributed to conception and design of this study, data collection, analysis and writing of the manuscript were performed by Ruth Waineina. Ngeno Kiplangat, Evans Ilatsia and Tobias Okeno read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. W. Waineina.

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Animal Rights

The National Commission of Science and Technology under the permit No: NACOSTI/P/19/69981/29118 and Kenya Institute of Primate Research under the permit No: ISERC/03/2020 approved the materials and procedures of this study.

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The authors declare no conflict interests.

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Waineina, R.W., Ngeno, K., Ilatsia, E. et al. Economic values of traits in the breeding goals defined by different dairy goat breeders’ associations in Kenya. Trop Anim Health Prod 56, 86 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-024-03929-9

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