Abstract

From 1980, the development project within the framework of genetic improvement achieved significant progress through crossbreeding of local goats with imported improver races at the Institute of the Arid Areas of Medenine. This article summarizes the performances of the various genotypes produced since1980. The crossing between these goat races appreciably improved the performances of growth and milk production of the local goat of the southern Tunisia since the first generation. The mean weights of kids were 3.49 kg at birth and 15.78 kg at 120 days age. The Damascus race presented the best performances of growth of the kids. The milk production with the first generation reached about 248 kg per lactation for the Alpine one, 181 kg for Damascus and 190 kg for Murciana while the local race produced only 137 kg. Despite the improvement of the growth and milk production traits, it seems that this crossing appears to have negative affect on reproductive performances.

Key words: Local goat, performances, crossing, oasis, Tunisia.