Environmental factors affecting gestation period and lambing interval in Malpura sheep in semi-arid region of Rajasthan

Abstract

Malpura sheep is one of the draught-resistant and heavy sheep breed of the semi-arid region of Rajasthan, India. The study of gestation period (GP) and lambing interval (LI) is important for improvement of production. A total of 2329 gestation records and 1644 lambing interval records of 609 Malpura ewes, collected over a period of 10 years (1996 to 2010) at ICAR-CSWRI Avikanagar were studied. The least squares means for GP and LI for the Malpura ewes were obtained as 151.74 ± 0.22 days and 428.98 ± 5.39 days, respectively. Highly significant effect of year was observed on both GP and LI, whereas, lambing season and dam’s age group significantly (P<0.01) affected lambing interval only. Type of birth showed significant influence on gestation length but parity, ewe weight and sex of lamb did not have significant effect on this trait. This study indicated that the LI and gestation length traits in Malpura sheep are affected by most of the factors investigated which must be taken in to consideration in genetic evaluation of these traits in breeding programs.