A new breeding pathway to improve meat goats

摘要

Meatgoatsareacriticalpartofeconomic,socialandcommunitylifeinmanycountries,soimprovingtheirproductionisimportant.Toavoidthemanyconstraintsthathavehinderedhistoricalbreedimprovementprojectsinthesecountries,theKikonui?maternalbreed(www.kikonui.com)hasbeendevelopedfromaKikobasesince2003tofocusontheuniversalfactorsofsurvival,adaptability,andsuperiorreproductiveandgrowthrates.Toachievetheseobjectivesandtoproduceanimprovedbreed,populationgeneticspolicieswithlargescaleselectionincommercialpopulationstogetherwithopennucleusbreedinghasbeenusedtoexploitfavourableNewZealandfarmingconditions.Thisprocesshasproducedabreedwhichhasgreatpotentialinmanyothersuitableenvironmentsthroughouttheworld.