STUDY OF SOME NON-GENETIC FACTORS AFEECTING GESTATION PERIOD AND BIRTH WEIGHT IN HAMMDANI EWES

Abstract

The experiment has been conducted on 58 Hammdani ewes 2-5 years old at the sheep farm/ Girdarasha/College of Agric. – Univ. of Salahaddin during 2003-2004.The average length of gestation period and birth weight were 151.290 days and 5.025 kg respectively. Weight of the ewes at mating, and birth weight had significant effect (p≤0.05) on gestation period; ewes weight 80-89kg had shorter gestation periods 150.133 days, and ewes carried lambs weight at birth (≥5.6 kg) had longer gestation periods 152.304 days) .Age of ewes at mating, sex of lambs, Type of birth and month of parturition did not show significant effects on length of gestation period in Hammdani sheep . Type of birth, age and weight of Dams at mating were significant effect birth weight, single and twins lambs weight at birth were 5.289 and 4.459 kg respectively. Lambs born from ewes 3 and 4 years age largest than lambs born from ewes 2 years age. Sex of lamb and month of birth did not show significant effects on birth weight in Hammdani sheep.