Aim: To study the pattern of mortality as affected by age, season and various diseases in local goats of Rohilkhand region maintained at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly.
Materials and methods: Post-mortem records of 12 years (2000-01 to 2011-12) were used, and total 243 mortality data were collected and analyzed. The causes of mortality were classified into seven major classes viz. digestive disorders, respiratory disorders, cardiovascular disorders, musculoskeletal disorder, parasitic disorders, mixed disorders (combination of digestive, respiratory, parasitic, and cardiovascular disorders) and miscellaneous disorders (cold, hypoglycemia, emaciation, endometritis, traumatic injury, etc.).
Results: The average mortality was 10.93%. The overall mortality was more during rainy season followed by winter and summer season. The mortality in 4-6 months of age was high (2.52%) followed by 0-1 month (2.34%) and 2-3 months (1.35%). The average mortality among adult age groups (>12 months) was 3.42%. The mortality showed declining trend with the advancement of age up to 3 months and then again increased in 4-6 months age group. The digestive diseases (3.51%) followed by respiratory diseases (1.89%) and parasitic diseases (1.48%) contributed major share to the total mortality occurred and the remaining disorders were of lesser significance in causing death in goats. There is significant (p<0.01; χ(2)=55.62) association between year with season and age with the season (p<0.05, χ(2)=16.083) found in the present study.
Conclusion: This study confirms that overall mortality rate averaged 10.93% (ranged between 1.10% and 25.56%) over 12 years under semi-intensive farm condition. It was generally higher in rainy season. The mortality remains higher in kids particularly under 1 month of age. The digestive diseases contributed major share to overall mortality.
Keywords: Rohilkhand; digestive disease; goat; mortality.