Relationship between placental traits and birth related factors in Damascus goats

Abstract

The relationship between placental traits and litter related factors of Damascus goats were investigated. In total, 39 Damascus goats of same age were used in the study. One-way ANOVA was used for statistical comparison and a Poisson regression analysis was used to determine the effect of litter size and sex on cotyledon number. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationships between variables. Cotyledon efficiency (CE), cotyledon number (CN), number of small, medium and large cotyledons, cotyledon density (CD), individual cotyledon surface area and litter weight have been determined significant for litter size (p < 0.05). A positive correlation was revealed between placental weight (PW) individual cotyledon weight (ICW) (r=0.88, P < 0.05), cotyledon weight (CW) (r=0.64, P < 0.05), large cotyledons number (LCN) (r=0.54, P < 0.05), also between birth weight (BW) and PW (r=0.47, P < 0.05) and litter weight (LW) (r=0.38, P < 0.01). CW was negatively correlated with CD (r = -0.55, P < 0.05) and placental efficiency (PE) (r = -0.82, P < 0.05). PW and PE were found highest in twin births. Single kids at an average of 4704 +/- 147 g were born heavier than twin kids (4315 +/- 333 g). While CW did not differ between single and twin births ICW was much higher (double) for twins. Sex had no effect on CN (P > 0.05); however litter size was found significant according to Poisson regression results. The most important finding of this study was the significant variance in cotyledon numbers between single and twin births. There was a notable increase of small and medium cotyledon numbers and a significant decrease of large cotyledons for single births while the exact opposite occurred for twin births. This significant correlation initiated to a new parameter for measuring the efficiency of placental exchange. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.