Study on Effect of Environmental Influences on Pre-Weaning Growth Traits in Mecheri Sheep Balan C1, Kathiravan G1, Thirunavukkarasu M1, Jeichitra V2 1Department of Animal Husbandry Statistics and Computer Applications, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai-600 007 2Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai-600 007 Online published on 2 January, 2017. Abstract Analysis of pre-weaning growth rate performance in Mecheri sheep was carried out using age-wise body weight data of Mecheri lambs maintained at Mecheri Sheep Research Station, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Pottaneri. The age-wise data for the period of twenty four years from 1991 to 2014 were considered for this study. Besides analysing the effects of environmental influences, viz., period of lambing, season of lambing and sex of lamb born on pre-weaning growth traits were also analysed. In addition, the overall least-squares means of pre-weaning AGR (g/day) measures was 79.97 ± 0.56. Period of birth, season of lambing and sex of lamb born were a highly significant (P < 0.01) source of variation in influencing the measures of pre-weaning AGR (g/day) was estimated. Among the least-squares means obtained for pre-weaning AGR (g/day) measured at different period of lambing, the maximum value (99.37 ± 1.04) was found in period 6 (2011–2014) and minimum (60.61± 1.53) in period 1 (1991–1994) lambing. Besides, season 2 (July-September) lambing was found highest (93.90 ± 0.78) pre-weaning AGR (g/day) andlowest (61.84 ± 0.81) in season 1(January-March) lambing. Similarly, male lambhad maximum (84.84±0.85) pre-weaning AGR (g/day) than female lamb (74.79 ± 0.71) also estimated. Top Keywords Mecheri sheep, pre-weaning growth rate, environmental effect, AGR. Top |