Abstract
Data were collected from El-Serw research station belonging to Animal Production
Research Institute (APRI) to estimate genetic parameter for Litter Size at Birth (LSB), Litter
Size at Weaning (LSW) and Total Milk Yield (TMY) in Zaraibi goats. There were 156 half-sib
families over the period 1987-2007 which developed 4784 records obtained from 1770 does,
progeny of 156 sires and 924 dams. Analysis of variance and least squares means for the fixed
effect were obtained using (SAS, 1999) with GLM procedure. MTDFREML program of
Boldman et al. (1993) was used to estimate covariance components. Overall means ± SE for
LSB, LSW and TMY were 2.10±0.01 kids, 1.28±034 kids and 253.14±1.5 kg, respectively.
Effect of parity, season and year of kidding, litter size and interaction between year and season
were significant (p<0.0001) for TMY. Effects of parity, season and year of kidding and the
interaction between year and season were also significant (P < 0.0001) for LSB and LSW.
Heritability estimates ± SE for the studied traits were; 0.08±0.01 for LSB, 0.05±0.01 for LSW
and 0.26±0.05 for TMY, while the repeatability ± SE were 0.15±0.04, 0.09±0.06 and 0.31±0.06
for LSB, LSW and TMY, respectively. Genetic and phenotypic correlations between studied
traits were positive and moderate.