Estimation of Breeding Values and Genetic Trend of Production Traits in Munjal Sheep

Abstract

Munjal is a new promising breed of sheep and is popular among farmers for its big size and faster growth rate. The data pertaining to the production traits of 462 Munjal sheep sired of 27 rams were used to evaluate the sire by estimating the breeding value using Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) method. The average breeding value of Munjal sires for Birth weight (BW), Weaning weight (WW), Six month body weight (SMW), One year body weight (YW) and Greasy fleece weight (GFW) were estimated as 4.15, 15.57, 21, 26.54 and 1.83 Kg, respectively. After estimation of breeding values, the sires were ranked as per their genetic merit. The product moment correlations between sire’s estimated breeding values among production traits were low to high ranging from 0.01 to 0.80. The rank correlations of BW with WW, SMW, YW and GFW were low and positive. The rank correlations of WW with SMW and YW were high, positive and significant. High and positive estimates indicate that there is high degree of similarity between ranking of WW with SMW and YW. The rank correlation of SMW with YW was high, positive and significant and indicated that there is high degree of similarity between rankings of SMW with YW. Genetic trends for BW, WW, SMW, YW and GFW were estimated by regressing breeding values of traits on year of the birth of the animals and were obtained as -0.09, -0.25, -0.51, -0.67 and -0.01 kg/ year, respectively. Phenotypic trend for BW, WW, SMW, YW and GFW were estimated by phenotypic value of the traits on year of the birth of the animals were obtained as 0.08, -0.33, -0.44, -0.59 and -0.04 Kg/year, respectively. Genetic trend obtained in the present study were in negative direction which might be due to inbreeding because of small flock size.