Sadek Ahmed

The Bone Morphogenetic Protein 15 (BMP15) and Growth Differentiation Factor 9 (GDF9) genes play important roles in follicular development, ovulation rate, and litter size in goats. This study aimed to investigate polymorphisms (SNP) in the coding sequences of BMP15 and GDF9 genes and to find possible associations between identified polymorphisms and reproductive traits in Bangladesh’s Black Bengal goat (BBG). In total, 85 DNA samples of BBG were utilized for PCR amplification, gene fragments sequencing, and subsequent association studies using a generalized linear model implemented by R software. Sequence analysis revealed three SNPs (g.5875A>G, g.6051G>A, and g.6124C>G) in the exon 2 of the BMP15 gene, having one nonsynonymous mutation (g.6124C>G) that changed amino acid glutamic acid to glutamine (E270Q). Besides, the g.3764C>T polymorphism identified in the GDF9 gene was nonsynonymous in nature, changing the amino acid alanine to valine (A273V). The association analysis revealed that litter size and kidding interval differed significantly (pA and g.6124C>G SNP genotypes of the BMP15 gene in the BBG population. Besides, the combined genotypes derived from three BMP15 polymorphisms also significantly affected average litter size and at the 3rd parity. However, the g.3764C>T SNP genotypes of the GDF9 gene showed significant association with only average service per conception. Taken together, the identified SNPs of BMP15 and GDF9 genes showed potentials that could be used as molecular markers for improving the reproductive traits of BBG.

Black Bengal goat (BBG) is the most adaptable, widely distributed, and prominent goat breed in Bangladesh, well known in the world for its high prolificacy, low demand of feed, tolerance to harsh weather conditions, and disease resistance with remarkably good quality red meat and skin. A large number of indiscriminate research reports on BBG have been published; however, the review on the productive and reproductive performances with different physiological features of BBG in Bangladesh is scarce. This review was conducted to investigate and summarize the available research reports on BBGs to highlight the gaps and provide coherent recommendations for the future research plan for sustainable BBG production in Bangladesh. It covers research works in morphometric features, feeding and nutrition, reproduction, diseases and health management, husbandry practices, and production performances of BBG under local conditions. Due to the contemporary increased demand for animal protein (meat and milk), the scope of small ruminants, especially goat farming, increases with other large ruminants farming. The key constraints of BBG production in Bangladesh include higher disease prevalence with low or no management practices, kid mortality, inadequate feeds and fodder supply, and poor marketing channel with some other stumpy genetic potentialities (slower body weight gain, low milk production) of this goat. Future research would be required to assess the contribution of BBG to household economies and food securities throughout the year and evaluate the constraints, adaptation and extension of artificial insemination (AI), and genetic improvement of economically important traits using molecular techniques and the selective breeding program.

This study aimed to identify the effect of complete pellet feed on animal performances in both on-station and on-farm trials conducted on growing goats. A complete pellet feed was developed with 40% roughage (rice straw) and 60% concentrate [rice polish (50%), maize crush (16%), soybean meal (20%), molasses (10%), salt (2%), Dicalcium Phosphate (1%), vitamin–mineral premix (0.5%), and pellet binder (0.5%)] for commercial goat production and the research trial was carried out on the research station and on the farmers’ validation level. The results of the experiment on the effect of the developed complete pellet feed on goat production under stall feeding condition demonstrated that feeding complete pellet feeds helped in increasing the daily body weight gain of goats (36.96 and 52.46 gm, respectively) compared to traditional semi-intensive feeding (17.76 gm) with significantly (p < 0.05) better body condition score of goats. Feed Conversion Ratio was considerably lower (5.7) in the pellet feeding group than in the other groups where no pellet feed was used (8.32 and 8.03). Significantly (p < 0.05) lower feed price per kg weight gain was also observed in the pellet feeding group (BDT 124.22) compared to other groups (BDT 203.85 and BDT 214.74, respectively). The results suggest that complete pellet feed can be more economical for commercial goat production under the stall feeding condition, and farmers can be benefited by about 40% more compared to conventional grass, urea molasses straw, and concentrate-based feeding system.