Effect of Breed and some Non-Genetic Factors on Productive Performance in Two Sheep Breeds

Abstract

This study was conducted with the animal field of Al-Kafeel Company/Barakat Aba Al-Fadl (peace be upon him) station during the period from December 2021 to July 2022, the experiment included 200 lambs (100 lambs of Iranian Karakul breed, 100 lambs of local Hamdani) The number of male lambs was 88 while the female was 112, this study aims to compare the productive performance between the two breeds from birth to the age of 6 months, and to study the effect of non-genetic factors (dam’s weight, dam age, and sex of lambs) in productive traits, Birth and weaning weights were recorded at the age of six months, and body measurements for both breeds (body length, height at the wither and rump, chest and abdomen circumference) The results indicated a highly significant (P<0.01) superiority of the Karakul lambs over the local Hamdani breed in body weights, chest circumference at birth, body weight, chest and abdominal circumference at weaning, body weight and all body measurements at six months of age, Highly significant (P<0.01) for male lambs over females in body weights and body length, wither and rump height at weaning, body weight, all body measurements at six months of age, for both breeds. In addition to the presence of a highly significant difference (P<0.01) for the weight of lambs produced from dams with a high weight of more than 50 kg compared with lambs produced from dams with a weight of 30-49 kg at birth and weaning and at the age of six months, respectively, and most of the body measurements, While the non-significant effect of the age Dam on the weights of the lambs was on the weights of the lambs and most of the body measurements of both breeds. The results showed a positive and significant correlation (P < 0.01) between the weight of dams and lambs weight at birth and weaning and at six months of age, also to the correlation of the weights of the previous lambs with the subsequent weights of both breeds, Thus The possibility of using these factors of lambs in breeding programs for early selection of lambs and improving productive performance near marketing.