Reproductive Ability and Milk Production of Ewes with Different Variants of Linear Selection

Abstract

This article studied the reproductive capacity and milk production of ewes with various combinations of lines. It was found that the highest fecundity was possessed by animals of the III group from the interline selection of rams of the ME-50 line and ewes of the AC-30 line and amounted to 139.6%, which is higher than that of their peers of the I, II and IV groups by 4.2; 9.8 and 4.8 abs. percent. With intralinear selection, the animals of group I (line ME-50) were the best in this indicator, compared with animals of group II (line AC-30) by 5.6 abs. percent. The best safety of lambs before weaning (4.5 months) was observed in animals of group IV obtained from interline selection of rams of the AC-30 line and ewes of the ME-50 line and amounted to 93.5%, which is 1.2% higher than in their peers in groups I, II and III; 1.7 and 1.0 abs. percent. The highest milkiness of ewes with intraline selection, both for little rams and for young ewes, was in animals of group I (line ME-50), which surpassed in milkiness their peers of group II (line AC-30) reliably for little rams by 18.3% (P < 0.001), and for young ewes by 3.1% (P> 0.05). The superiority in milkiness of animals of group III over their peers of group I was 6.8% in little rams (P <0.001), and in young ewes–by 5.6% (P <0.01).