Genetic and phenotypic aspects of the body measured traits in merinolandschaf breed of sheep

M.P Petrovic,M Milenkovic,J Stojkovic,V Caro-Petrovic,Z Spasic,Z Ilic,D Ruzic-Muslic

doi:10.2298/bah1204733p

Abstract

Merinolandschaf sheep breed was used to estimate relationship between the next traits: Body weight of adult ewes (BW), Height to withers (HW), Body length (BL), Girth of Chest (GC), Rump Width (RW), Body weight of lambs at birth (BWB), Body weight of lambs at weaning (BWW). The collected data were from 750 sheep and their lambs during the period of three year. Estimates of means and standard errors for linear body measures and body weight of adult ewes and lambs, were obtained using the software program SPSS (2006). To estimate genetic and phenotypic correlations of observed traits, the ASREML program was used. Research has shown that genetic correlations between BW and all body measures of dams, ranging from 0.728 (BW-GC) to 0.976 (BW-HW). Genetic correlation between body measures of dams have also been positive and ranged in the interval from 0.873 (HW-GC) to 0.999 (BL-GC). Values for phenotypic correlations were lower compared with the genetic and the range varied from 0.183 (RW-BWB) to 0.421 (GC-BWW). The weaker phenotype correlations can be interpreted as play of more complex genetic and residual factors.

Highlights

Testing and characterization of different breeds in the world is of particular interest for the future of sheep production (Ugarte, 2007; Kurt And Horst, 2008)
Linear measurement can be used in assessing growth rate, weight, feed utilization and carcass characteristic, for tracing relationship between production performance, visual appraisal and body measurements (Lawrence and Fowler, 1998; Fourie et al, 2002)
To determine optimal breeding strategies to increase the efficiency of sheep production, knowledge of genetic parameters for weight traits and the genetic relationships between the traits in different breed of sheep is needed (Neser et al, 2001; Jamssems and Vandepitte, 2004; Babar et al, 2008, Bahreini Behzadi et al, 2007; Komlosi, 2008; Gamasaee et al, 2010)

Summary

Introduction

Testing and characterization of different breeds in the world is of particular interest for the future of sheep production (Ugarte, 2007; Kurt And Horst, 2008). Growth usually defined as the increase in size or body weight at a given age, is one of the important selection criteria for improvement of lamb production (Afolayan et al, 2006). Animals are usually estimated by what benefits they can give to farmers. At first glance this is quite normal, but not completely. To determine optimal breeding strategies to increase the efficiency of sheep production, knowledge of genetic parameters for weight traits and the genetic relationships between the traits in different breed of sheep is needed (Neser et al, 2001; Jamssems and Vandepitte, 2004; Babar et al, 2008, Bahreini Behzadi et al, 2007; Komlosi, 2008; Gamasaee et al, 2010)

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