Lifetime lamb production of Nilagiri EWES Iyue M.1, Kumar R. Anil2*, Venkataramanan R.3, Sreekumar C.4 Sheep Breeding Research Station, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Sandynallah-643 237, The Nilgiris District, Tamil Nadu 1 Professor and Head (Retd.), Sheep Breeding Research Station, Sandynallah 2 Dr. R. Anil Kumar, Professor and Head, Sheep Breeding Research Station, Sandynallah 3 Associate Professor, Instruction Livestock Farm, Madhavaram, Chennai-51 4 Professor and Head, Department of Wild life Science, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai-7 *Corresponding author ootyanilmini@gmail.com
Online published on 27 May, 2021. Abstract The reproductive rate and lifetime productivity of ewes of Nilagiri sheep was assessed as a trait of ewe and expressed in terms of number of lambs produced (TLB), number of lambs weaned (TLW) and total weight weaned (TWW). Data from 2146 lambing records of Nilagiri ewes born during the period from 1978 to 2001 were analyzed. The mean number of lambs born per ewe during their lifetime varied from 3.69 ± 0.14 to 5.08 ± 0.36 for the different periods with an overall mean of 4.59 ± 0.12. The differences in total lambs born between the periods is significant (P<0.01). For the trait of TLW, the means for different periods varied form 2.65 ± 015 to 4.60 ± 015 and the overall mean was 3.42 ± 0.12. Higher weaning percentage were recorded in earlier years than in recent years of the study period and the differences in weaning percentage between periods was significant (P<0.01). The total weight weaned (TWW) ranged from 26.77 ± 1.50 to 45.95 ± 3.67 kg. The overall mean for this trait was 32.86 ± 1.19 kg. The heritability estimate for the reproductive traits were 0.377 ± 0.201(TLB), 0.505 ± 0.215 (TLW) and 0.537 ± 0.218 (TWW). Top Key words Nilagiri sheep, Lifetime ewe productivity traits, Number of lambs produced, Number of lambs weaned, Total weight weaned. Top |