Genetic Analysis of Fitness Traits of Kashmir Merino Sheep at Organized Farms of Kashmir

Abstract

Background: Fitness traits include measures of reproductive efficiency of sheep. The improvement in reproductive efficiency has significant impact on overall economy of sheep. Methods: Data spanning over 21 years (1997-2017) were collected from two sheep breeding farm and analyzed with mixed model least-squares maximum likelihood (LSMLMW) computer (PC-2) programme designed by Harvey (1990) to estimate number of lambs born per ewe (NLBE), number of lambs weaned per ewe (NLWE), litter size (LS) and sex ratio (SR) of Kashmir Merino sheep. Result: Overall estimates of 3.56±0.11, 3.20±0.10, 48.32±0.04 and 1.06±0.01 for number of lambs born per ewe (NLBE), number of lambs weaned per ewe (NLWE), litter size (LS) and sex ratio (SR), respectively were observed in the present study. The period of birth had significant (p less than 0.05) effect on NLBE and NLEE. The effect of sire was highly significant on all the traits under study whereas effect of all the non-genetic factors considered had non-significant effect on LS and SR.