leptin (lep), the expression product of the obese gene produced primarily in the adipose tissue, is related to feed intake, growth and lipid metabolism. the aim of this study was to study the possible association between polymorphism of the lep gene with growth and carcass traits among three iranian sheep breeds of the shal, zandi and zel varieties. a total of 180 purebred animals of the shal, ...

Determination of milk yield potential using an accurate method is essential for assessing nutritional requirements, evaluation of genetic potential, lamb growth and survival, management decisions and improving performance traits of sheep flocks. Exogenous oxytocin injection is applied to estimate milk secretion rate in sheep. Oxytocin is a neurohormone produced in the hypothalamo-neurohypophysi...

Growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) belong to the superfamily of transforming growth factor β that is highly expressed in growing ovarian follicles of oocyte, and it has been strongly related to fecundity traits in sheep. Therefore, the GDF9 gene could serve as a genetic marker for improvement of reproductive performance in sheep. Therefore, the aim of this study was to invest...

determination of milk yield potential using an accurate method is essential for assessing nutritional requirements, evaluation of genetic potential, lamb growth and survival, management decisions and improving performance traits of sheep flocks. exogenous oxytocin injection is applied to estimate milk secretion rate in sheep. oxytocin is a neurohormone produced in the hypothalamo-neurohypophysi...

The five Northern European short-tailed sheep breeds present in North America are the Finnsheep, Romanov, Icelandic, Shetland and Gotland. The Finnsheep and Romanov were first imported in 1966 and 1986, respectively, for their high reproductive performance. The Shetland, Icelandic and Gotland breeds were first imported in 1980, 1985 and 2005, respectively, for the uniqueness of their physical a...

Embryonic and fetal mortality reduce lambing rates and litter sizes, thus contributing to economic losses in the sheep industry. In the current study, the timing of late embryonic and fetal loss in ewes and the factors with which these losses were associated were examined. Ewes lambing and lambs born were compared with pregnancy diagnosis and counts of embryos by ultrasonography near d 25, 45, ...

Production and well-being of sheep and goats in many countries are harmfully impacted by small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) that cause incurable, progressive diseases. Susceptibility to ovine progressive pneumonia virus (OPPV), the North American form of SRLV, is influenced by variants of the ovine transmembrane protein 154 gene (TMEM154). The experimental objective was to estimate additive and...