Impact of dominance on behaviour of goat reared under different housing systems

Abstract EN

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of dominance on behaviour of goat reared under different housing conditions.

a two flock of baladi goats belonging to both the farm of faculty of veterinary medicine, zagazig university and private one at hehia city, sharkeya in which a total number of forty baladi goats (9-18 m) were used and reared under two housing systems either semi-intensive or village system (20 goats per system) which randomly allocated into two sub-groups (4 male and 16 female).

the following behaviours were assessed: ingestive, agonistic and eliminative for each housing system.

the results revealed that there was significant effect of the dominance index on the behaviour of goat with the highest for the dominance index >0.66 for goats reared under semi-intensive system followed by the village.

therefore, it can be concluded that rearing goats under the semi-intensive system could be better than the village one with the following recommendation to gain the good economic benefit from it: 1.

suitable stocking density with similarity in age and size 2.

avoid regrouping and keep the group stable 3.

sufficient feeding spaces to avoid fighting on feed resources 4.

avoid bad management by human to keep the animal in good temperament.