Zemedkun Diffe - Department of Animal Sciences, Mekdela Amba University, Tulu Awulia, Ethiopia
Tesfa Kassa - Department of Animal Sciences, Mekdela Amba University, Tulu Awulia, Ethiopia

Goats are small ruminants that have a vital role in the livelihood of the Ethiopian community. Their prolificacy and fecundity, short generation interval, adaptation to harsh environments, and their ability to thrive under limited feed resources, all make them favorable as an investment and insurance. Reproductive performance is one of the most important economic traits in terms of goat production. Reproductive performance determines several aspects of goat production and their reproduction and is thus important for flock expansion and replacement. The reproduction efficiency of an animal helps in evaluating the strength and weaknesses of the genotypes across different production environments. Therefore, optimum reproductive efficiencies in the flock are fundamental to the success of any production system. The trait influences the overall productivity of the flock. Reproduction failure is the first indicator of the low profitability of the flock. The reproductive efficiency of goats is an accumulation of several correlated traits. The reproductive traits of goats are age at puberty, age at first kidding, post-partum heat period, kidding interval, litter size, parity order, and service per conception. In Ethiopian communities the phenotypes of the goats have an important influence on socio-cultural and economic values; as a result, most farmers pay special attention to the shape of the horn, presence/absence of wattles, color of the eyes, shape of the udder, coat colors and body sizes.DOR: https://dorl.net/dor/۲۰.۱۰۰۱.۱.۲۳۴۵۴۳۷۷.۲۰۲۲.۱۰.۱.۹.۷Goats are small ruminants that have a vital role in the livelihood of the Ethiopian community. Their prolificacy and fecundity, short generation interval, adaptation to harsh environments, and their ability to thrive under limited feed resources, all make them favorable as an investment and insurance. Reproductive performance is one of the most important economic traits in terms of goat production. Reproductive performance determines several aspects of goat production and their reproduction and is thus important for flock expansion and replacement. The reproduction efficiency of an animal helps in evaluating the strength and weaknesses of the genotypes across different production environments. Therefore, optimum reproductive efficiencies in the flock are fundamental to the success of any production system. The trait influences the overall productivity of the flock. Reproduction failure is the first indicator of the low profitability of the flock. The reproductive efficiency of goats is an accumulation of several correlated traits. The reproductive traits of goats are age at puberty, age at first kidding, post-partum heat period, kidding interval, litter size, parity order, and service per conception. In Ethiopian communities the phenotypes of the goats have an important influence on socio-cultural and economic values; as a result, most farmers pay special attention to the shape of the horn, presence/absence of wattles, color of the eyes, shape of the udder, coat colors and body sizes. DOR: https://dorl.net/dor/۲۰.۱۰۰۱.۱.۲۳۴۵۴۳۷۷.۲۰۲۲.۱۰.۱.۹.۷

Reproductive Performance, Goat Selection Criteria, Ethiopia