Polledness and intersexuality in the Damascus breed of goat

Abstract

SUMMARYData on 2208 parturitions involving 3594 kids were used to study the inheritance of polledness and its relationship with intersexuality in the Damascus breed of goat.The percentage of horned kids in the offspring of polled × polled and horned × horned matings was 26·8 and 100·0, respectively. The corresponding value for matings having one parent horned was 50·3%.There was a consistent excess of males in the sex ratios. Males comprised 53·8, 52·4, 60·2 and 54·0% of the offspring of polled x polled, polled x horned, horned x polled and horned × horned matings respectively. The corresponding proportions for the intersexes were 6·2, 0·3, 0·0 and 0·0%. The incidence of intersexes was not affected by type of birth (single, twin or multiple) or sex of littermates.It was concluded that the data from the Damascus breed of goat conform with the current theory on the behaviour of the P gene concerning polledness (direct dominant effect) and intersexuality (pleiotropic recessive effect) in the Swiss breeds of goat.