Genetic studies on growth and wool production traits in crossbred sheep of India

PARUL GUPTA; DIBYENDU CHAKRABORTY; A K DAS; NISHANT KUMAR; NUSRAT KHAN

doi:10.56093/ijans.v85i3.47312

Authors

PARUL GUPTA Ph. D. Scholar, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology -Jammu, R.S.Pura, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir 181 102 India
DIBYENDU CHAKRABORTY Assistant Professor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology -Jammu, R.S.Pura, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir 181 102 India
A K DAS Associate Professor, Division of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology -Jammu, R.S.Pura, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir 181 102 India
NISHANT KUMAR Assistant Professor, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology -Jammu, R.S.Pura, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir 181 102 India
NUSRAT KHAN Ph. D. Scholar, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology -Jammu, R.S.Pura, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir 181 102 India

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijans.v85i3.47312

Keywords:

Birth weight, Fiber diameter, Greasy fleece weight, Heritability, Rambouillet

Abstract

Data on 5,435 lambs pertaining to 166 rams of Rambouillet and their crosses over the 13 years (1998–2010) at Government Sheep Breeding and Research Farm, Reasi, Jammu, were studied. The averages of birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT), litter size (LS), greasy fleece weight (GFW), staple length (SL) and fiber diameter (FD) were 3.034±0.010 kg, 22.644±0.061 kg, 1.052±0.009, 1.520±0.009 kg, 5.599±0.019cm and 21.310±0.014 μ, respectively. The highest co-efficient of variation (CV) percentage was observed for greasy fleece weight whereas the lowest CV was observed for fiber diameter. The least-squares means were 3.088±0.023 kg, 22.578±0.148 kg, 1.046±0.007, 1.533±0.021 kg, 5.719±0.045cm and 21.315±0.034 μ for BWT, WWT, LS, GFW and FD, respectively. The effect of year of lambing was significant for all the traits under present study, whereas, the effect of season of lambing was nonsignificant for all the traits. The effect of sex was significant for growth traits and greasy fleece weight only. However, no systematic trend was observed over the year, season of lambing and sex for all the traits studied. The estimates of heritability were high for BWT (0.351), medium for WWT (0.301), GFW (0.401) and SL (0.453), whereas for FD and LS, it was low as 0.272 and 0.132, respectively. The genetic and phenotypic correlations were either negative or low. These estimates revealed that there is a scope for genetic improvement of these traits through appropriate selection methods.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Acharya R M. 1978. Breeding Strategy for Sheep in India. A discussion paper. Mimeographed. Central Sheep & Wool Research Institute, Avikanagar, Rajasthan.

Acharya R M. 1982. Sheep and Goat Breeds of India. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper 30, FAO of United Nations, Rome, Italy.

Balasubramanyam D, Jaishankar S and Sivaselvam S N. 2010. Performance of Madras Red Sheep under Farmer’s Flocks. Indian Journal of Small Ruminants 16(2): 217–20.

Becker W A. 1975. Manual of Quantitative Genetics. 3rd edn. Washington State University, Washington, USA.

Chopra A, Gowane G R, Prakash V and Arora A L. 2010. Evaluation of wool quality attributes of Bharat Merino sheep. Indian Veterinary Journal 87: 1003–05.

Dixit S P, Singh G and Dhillon J S. 2011. Genetic and environmental factors affecting fleece traits in Bharat Merino sheep. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 81: 80–83.

Harvey W R. 1990. User’s guide for LSMLMW PC-2 version mixed model- Least squares and Maximum Likelihood Computer Program Mincograph. Columbia, Ohio, USA.

Khan N N, Kumar N, Das A K, Chakraborty D and Gupta P. 2013. Factors affecting birth and weaning weights in Rambouillet crossbred sheep. Indian Veterinary Journal 90(5): 36–37.

Kramer C Y. 1957. Extension of multiple range test to groupcorrelated adjusted means. Biometrics 13: 13–18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3001898

NCA, New Delhi. 1976. Report of the National Commission on Agriculture. Part VII. Animal Husbandry, Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. New Delhi.

Ozcan M, Ekiz B and Yilmaz A. 2005. Genetic parameters estimates for lamb growth traits in Turkish Merino sheep. Small Ruminant Research 56(1): 215–22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2004.06.009

Singh D, Ramesh Kumar, Pander B L, Dhaka S S and Singh S. 2006. Genetic Parameters of Growth Traits in Crossbred Sheep. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 19(10): 1390– 93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.2006.1390

Snedecor G W and Cochran W G. 1994. Statistical Methods. 8th edn. Iowa State University Press, Ames, USA.