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Assessment of heat tolerance and production performance of Aardi, Damascus, and their crossbred goats

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Abstract

The question of whether the adaptability and production performance in goats may be enhanced using a crossbreeding program between bucks of a native and heat-tolerant breed and does of an exotic and dual-purpose breed was approached and examined herein by comparing purebred Aardi and Damascus goats and their crossbred lines (i.e., 1/2 Aardi 1/2 Damascus (½A½D) and 1/4 Aardi 3/4 Damascus (¼A¾D)) reared in a region characterized by dry and hot bioclimatic conditions. Twenty-four male 6-month-old kids randomly segregated into four groups (six replicates/group) were used for the experiment. Climatic, thermo-physiological, biophysiological, metabolic, blood hematological, and biochemical measurements were all determined. The obtained results indicated that such a program was proven to be successful. This conclusion was demonstrated by the findings that crossbred goats (i.e., 1/2A1/2D and 1/4A3/4D) under such bioclimatic conditions were able to show (P < 0.05) higher heat tolerance capabilities compared to purebred Damascus goats as well as manifested (P < 0.05) higher production performance compared to the purebred Aardi goats. Accordingly, these evidences could emphasize that the crossbreeding may enable these animals to display a simultaneous improvement of both traits by the possible benefits that could arise from heterosis and breed complementarity. Researches dealing with this aspect may very well improve our understanding of goat’s production and welfare under harsh environmental conditions. Future studies should include an economic analysis of traits that have the potential to impact the overall profitability to a vertically coordinated system.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (MAARIFAH), King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Award Number 12-AGR2540-02.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Animal Production, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

      Emad Mohammed Samara, Khalid Ahmed Abdoun, Aly Bassunny Okab, Mohammed Abdo Al-Badwi & Ahmed Abrahim Al-Haidary

    2. Department of Animal Production and Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Al-Qassim University, Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia

      Mohamed Fawzy El-Zarei & Ali Mohamed Al-Seaf

    3. Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

      Mohamed Fawzy El-Zarei

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    1. Emad Mohammed Samara
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    Correspondence to Emad Mohammed Samara.

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    All procedures described in this experiment were approved by the Faculty Research Ethics Committee at the King Saud University.

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    The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

    Additional information

    Emad Mohammed Samara and Khalid Ahmed Abdoun contributed equally to this work.

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    Samara, E.M., Abdoun, K.A., Okab, A.B. et al. Assessment of heat tolerance and production performance of Aardi, Damascus, and their crossbred goats. Int J Biometeorol 60, 1377–1387 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-1131-6

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-015-1131-6

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