168 Scientific Journal of Animal Science (2013) 2(6) 168-172 ISSN 2322-1704 Placental traits and their relation with birth weight in Meriz and Black goats J.E. Alkass, K.Y. Merkhan*, R.A.H. Hamo Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. * Corresponding author; Animal Production Dept., Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq; Mobile phone: 009647504741916. A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 15 June 2013 Accepted 22 June 2013 Available online 29 June 2013 Keywords: Birth weight Placental traits Meriz and black goats A B S T R A C T At a commercial farm of goat, Duhok province, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, the relationship between placental traits and birth weight of kids together with some factors affecting these traits were investigated in this study. A total of 79 foetal placental delivered at normal kidding were collected from Black goat (n=33) and Meriz (n=46). The results revealed that neither breed of goat nor sex had a significant effect on all placental traits. A positive correlation between birth weight (BW) of kids and each of placental efficiency (PE) (r=0.38; P≤0.01), placental weight (PW) (r = 0.01, P≥0.05), cotyledon weight (CW) (r = 0.08, P≥0.05) was found, and a non significant negative correlations was noticed between BW and each of cotyledon number (CN) (r = -0.05, P≥0.05), and cotyledon density (CD) (r = -0.12, P≥0.05). PW is positively correlated with the CW ( r = 0.73, P≤0.01) and CN (r = 0.41, P≤0.01) and negatively correlated with PE (r = 0.80, P≤0.01) and CD (r = -0.46, P≤0.01). Results showed a significant positive correlation between placental efficiency and each of birth weight of kids and cotyledon density. © 2013 Sjournals. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In ruminants, including goat, neonatal mortality has an important influence on the productivity of the farm and indicator for sustainability of the flock. Hence placental growth and development of its functional ability are Original article Contents lists available at Sjournals Journal homepage: www.Sjournals.com