Recent discoveries that high prolificacy in sheep carrying the Booroola gene (FecB) is the result of a mutation in the BMPIB receptor and high prolificacy in Inverdale sheep (FecX(I)) is the result of a mutation in the BMP15 oocyte-derived growth factor gene have allowed direct marker tests to be developed for FecB and FecX(I). These tests were carried out in seven strains of sheep (Javanese, Thoka, Woodlands, Olkuska, Lacaune, Belclare, and Cambridge) in which inheritance patterns have suggested the presence of major genes affecting prolificacy and in the prolific Garole sheep of India, which have been proposed as the ancestor of Australian Booroola Merinos. The FecB mutation was found in the Garole and Javanese sheep but not in Thoka, Woodlands, Olkuska, Lacaune, Belclare, and Cambridge sheep. None of the sheep tested had the FecX(I) mutation. These findings present strong evidence to support historical records that the Booroola gene was introduced into Australian flocks from Garole (Bengal) sheep in the late 18th century. It is unknown whether Javanese Thin-tailed sheep acquired the Booroola gene directly from Garole sheep from India or via Merinos from Australia. The DNA mutation test for FecB will enable breeding plans to be developed that allow the most effective use of this gene in Garole and Javanese Thin-tailed sheep and their crosses.

Hindsight forecastings of the occurrence time of the eruption are performed by applying the Materials Failure Forecast Method (FFM). They use cumulative RSAM calculated either on the raw records or on signals classified according to their dominant frequency. Stable estimations are obtained during the last 6 days with fluctuations as small as ± 4 hours around the time of the first explosion. This approach could thus be useful to support decision making in the case of future explosive episodes at Merapi assuming that similar precursory processes will occur.

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This research was carried out to make a difference and to predict genetic distance some sheep that are genetically related to each other based on the body size measurements. Nineteen bodies size of 323 sheeps of five sheep breeds; namely Barbados Black Belly Cross (BC), Garut Local (GL), Garut Composite (GC), Sumatra Composite (SC) and St. Croix Cross (SCC) were measured. Analysis of variance and canonical discriminant analysis, Mahalanobis distance, plotting canonical and dendogram were performed using PROC GLM, PROC CANDISC, PROC CLUSTER and PROC TREE of SAS software ver. 9.0. Index Length, Width Slope, Depth Slope, Balance and Cumulative Index of GC sheep were significantly higher than the four other breeds. Canonical discriminant analysis successfully could differentiate among the five sheep breeds. All five breed were divided into two groups: the first group consisted of SCC, SC and BC; and the second group consisted of the GL and GC. The results of genetic distance estimation showed that the SCC had a value of sheep genetic distance closest to SC (10.83) and BC (27.98), while GL had the closest distance to GC (66.60). The tail width, horn base circumference, horn length (canonical 1) and variable length of the tail and body length (canonical 2) were the breed differentiation variable in this study.

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