Estimation of genetic parameters as well as trends for growth traits in Harnali sheep
![](/public/icon/gor.png)
![](/public/icon/pdf.png)
Keywords:
Breeding value, Genetic parameters, Genetic trend, Growth, Harnali sheepAbstract
The current study focussed on the growth traits pertaining to Harnali sheep maintained at Sheep Farm, LUVAS, Hisar and data were recorded from pedigree sheets of 1278 animals. Growth traits considered were birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), six-month weight (6MW), yearling weight (YW), and pre-weaning average daily gain (PRWDG) and least-squares means for corresponding traits found to be 3.28±0.02 kg, 12.89±0.07 kg, 17.06±0.06 kg, 24.36±0.06 kg, and 106.74±0.61 g, respectively. Effect of different factors like period of birth, sex of animal and dams’ weight at lambing was studied on growth traits. Except YW, significant effect of period of birth was observed on all the growth traits. Sex had significant influence on BW only however, dams’ weight at lambing affected significantly all the considered growth traits except YW. By leveraging the sire component of variance and covariance from mixed model analysis, the paternal half-sib correlation method was used to estimate genetic as well as phenotypic parameters. Estimates of heritability for BW, WW, 6MW, YW and PRWDG were 0.28±0.07, 0.33±0.07, 0.31±0.07, 0.12±0.04 and 0.27±0.06, respectively. Genetic as well as phenotypic trends for WW and PRWDG were found to be positive. Moderate range of genetic variability at weaning weight and its positive genetic and phenotypic correlations with growth traits specially six month’s weight indicated that genetic improvement could be possible through early selection at weaning weight in Harnali sheep.
Downloads
References
th Livestock Census, All India Report, DAHD & F. 2019. Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. www.dahd.nic.in.
Assan N. 2020. Effect of genetic and non-genetic factors on growth traits in goats and sheep production. Scientific Journal of Zoology 9(1): 106–22.
Balasubramanyam D, Raja T V, Kumarasamy P and Sivaselvam S N. 2012. Estimation of genetic parameter and trends for body weight traits in Madras Red sheep. Indian Journal of Small Ruminants 18(2): 173–79.
Bangar Y C, Magotra A and Yadav A S. 2020. Estimates of covariance components and genetic parameters for growth, average daily gain and Kleiber ratio in Harnali sheep. Tropical Animal Health and Production 52(5): 2291–96.
Chauhan A, Dahiya S P, Bangar Y C and Magotra A. 2021. The estimation of (co)variance components and genetic parameters for growth and wool traits in Harnali sheep. Small Ruminant Research 203: 106485.
Das A K, Chakraborty D, Kumar N, Gupta P, Khan N N and Bukhari S. 2014. Effect of non-genetic factors on performance traits of Kashmir Merino sheep. Indian Journal of Animal Research 48(2): 106–08.
Gowane G R, Chopra A, Prince L L L, Mishra A K and Arora A L. 2011. Genetic analysis for growth traits of prolific Garole × Malpura (GM) sheep. Tropical Animal Health and Production 43: 299–303.
Hamadani A, Ganai N A and Rather M A. 2021. Genetic, phenotypic and heritability trends for body weights in Kashmir Merino Sheep. Small Ruminant Research 205: 106542.
Harvey W R. 1990. Users guide for LSMLMW PC-1 version. Mixed model least squares and maximum likelihood programme, Iowa State University, USA.
Hussain A, Akhtar P, Ali S, Javed K, Younas M, Shakoor A and Waheed U. 2014. Genetic analysis of post-weaning growth traits of Thalli sheep under tropical conditions. Tropical Animal Health and Production 46: 1527–31.
Hussain A. 2006. ‘Genetic evaluation of Thalli sheep in Pakistan.’ M.V.Sc. thesis. The Faculty of Animal Husbandry, University of Agriculture Sciences, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Jafari S and Hashemi A. 2014. Estimation of genetic parameters for body measurements and their association with yearling liveweight in the Makuie sheep breed. South African Journal of Animal Science 44 (2): 141–47.
Kandalkar Y B, Mandakmale S D, Shinde O V and Dhage S A. 2016. Selection index for Deccani sheep. International Journal of Tropical Agriculture 34(6): 1807–10.
Kannojia K, Yadav S B S, Narula H K, Pannu U and Singh H. 2016. Genetic parameters of body weights in Marwari sheep. Indian Journal of Small Ruminants 22(2): 222–24.
Kannojia K. 2015. ‘Selection strategies for genetic improvement of Marwari sheep.’ M.V.Sc. Thesis, Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Science, Bikaner.
Kramer C Y. 1957. Extension of multiple ranges test to group correlated adjusted means. Biometrics 13: 13–18.
Kumar S, Dahiya S P, Magotra A, Ratwan P and Bangar Y C. 2022. Estimation of heritability and breeding values for performance and body conformation traits in Harnali Sheep. The Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 92(2): 226–31.
Kumar S, Dahiya S P, Malik Z S, Patil C S and Magotra A. 2018. Genetic analysis of performance traits in Harnali sheep. Indian Journal of Animal Research 52(5): 643–48.
Lalit, Malik Z S, Dalal D S, Dahiya S P, Patil C S and Dahiya R. 2016. Genetic analysis of growth traits in Harnali sheep. Veterinary World 9(2): 128–32.
Mallick P K, Thirumaran S M K, Pourouchottamane R S, Rajpandi S, Venkataramanan R, Nagarajan G, Murali G and Rajendiran A S. 2017. Influence of genetic and non- genetic factors on growth traits of Bharat Merino sheep in sub-temperate climate of Kodai hills of Tamil Nadu. Indian Journal of Animal Research 51(2): 365–70.
Mallick P K, Thirumaran S M K, Pourouchottamane R, Rajapandi S, Venkataramanan R, Nagarajan G, Murali G and Rajendiran A S. 2016. Genetic trend for growth and wool performance in a closed flock of Bharat Merino sheep at sub temperate region of Kodai hills, Tamil Nadu. Veterinary World 9(3): 276.
Meyer K. 2007. WOMBAT- A tool for mixed model analyses in quantitative genetics by restricted maximum likelihood (REML). Journal of Zheijang University SCIENCE B11: 815–21.
Narula H K, Patel A K, Chopra A and Mehrotra A. 2017. Influence of environmental factors on production traits and heritability estimates of Magra sheep in arid region. Indian Journal of Small Ruminants (The) 23: 21–25.
Nirban L K, Joshi R K, Narula H K, Singh H and Bhakar S. 2015. Genetic and non-genetic factors affecting body weights in Marwari sheep. Indian Journal of Small Ruminants 21(1): 106–08.
Oyieng E, Mrode R, Ojango J M, Ekine-Dzivenu C C, Audho J and Okeyo A M. 2022. Genetic parameters and genetic trends for growth traits of the Red Maasai sheep and its crosses to Dorper sheep under extensive production system in Kenya. Small Ruminant Research 206: 106588.
Prince L L L, Chopra A, Gowane G R and Arora A L. 2010. Factors affecting growth in Avikalin sheep. Indian Veterinary Journal 87: 1104–08.
Rather M A, Shanaz S, Ganai N A, Nabi N, Hamadani A, Alam S, Bukhari S, Baba A and Raja T A. 2020. Estimation of genetic parameters for production and reproduction traits in Kashmir Merino sheep. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 90(2): 288–91.
Rather M, Shanaz S, Ganai N, Baba M, Hamadani A, Ahmad M and Ahmad T. 2019. Genetic, phenotypic and environmental trends for production and reproduction traits in Kashmir Merino Sheep. International Journal of Livestock Research 9(12): 73–78.
Reddy V V, Sreenivas D, Gnanaprakash M and Harikrishna C H. 2017. Genetic analysis of growth performance of Nellore brown sheep. International Journal of Science, Environment and Technology 6: 774–80.
Singh H. 2012. ‘Studies on different methods of sire evaluation for growth traits in Marwari sheep.’ M.V.Sc. Thesis, Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India.
Snedecor G W and Cochran W G. 1980. Statistical Methods. 7th Edition, Iowa State University Press, Ames.
SPSS. 2007. Statistical Package for Social Sciences. SPSS Inc., 444 Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, USA.
Sudan A, Taggar R K and Chakraborty D. 2020. Estimation of breeding values for performance traits in Rambouillet rams. Haryana Veterinarian 59(1): 106–08.
Thiruvenkadan A K, Karunanithi K, Muralidharan J and Babu R N. 2011. Genetic analysis of pre-weaning and post-weaning growth traits of Mecheri sheep under dry land farming conditions. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 24(8): 1041–47.
Umeel, Malik Z S, Dalal D S, Dahiya S P and Patil C S. 2018. Estimation of genetic parameters for production traits in Munjal sheep. Indian Journal of Small Ruminants 24(1): 31–34.
Vivekanand, Josh R K, Narula H K, Singh H and Chopra A. 2014. Effect of genetic and non-genetic factor on growth of Magra sheep in arid region of Rajasthan. Indian Journal of Small Ruminants 20(2): 19–22.
Vivekanand. 2013. ‘Studies on the accuracy of different method of sire evaluation for growth trait in Magra sheep.’ MVSc Thesis, Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner, India.
Downloads
Submitted
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 The Indian Journal of Animal Sciences
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The copyright of the articles published in The Indian Journal of Animal Sciences is vested with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, which reserves the right to enter into any agreement with any organization in India or abroad, for reprography, photocopying, storage and dissemination of information. The Council has no objection to using the material, provided the information is not being utilized for commercial purposes and wherever the information is being used, proper credit is given to ICAR.