Data from 364 ewes of Sardi (S), D'man (D), S x DS, DS x S, S x D, D x S (F1), F2, D x DS and DS x D breed groups mated to F1 rams were analyzed for fertility, number of lambs born alive, litter size at weaning, litter weight at weaning per ewe joined and mean lamb weight at 60 d. Each ewe was exposed in two seasons and had one or two lambings. Effects of breed group were significant for all tr...

To determine the value of pre-pubertal plan of nutrition on reproductive performance, hormonal concentrations and milk production in ewe lambs, a total of 40 clinically health Kurdish female lambs (30±8.6 d and weighing 10.2±3.4 kg) were randomly allocated to one of two experimental diets in pre-weaning period: high quality diet (HQD) (HQD, 2.50 Mcal ME/kg dry matter (DM) and 148 g CP/kg DM) or...

in this study records of 15723, 12108 and 5236 zel sheep for birth weight (bw), weaning weight (ww) and 6-month weight (6mw) traits were used. data has been collected by the jahad-e-keshavarzi organization of province of mazandaran during 1994-2009. the heritability of direct and maternal of growth traits was estimated using the univariate analysis with restricted maximum likelihood (reml). in ...

In good environments, cow intake is sufficient for their own growth and for milk production to support their calf. In poor environments, cows lose BW or may reduce milk supply to maintain themselves. Heritability for direct genetic and maternal components of weaning weight as well as the correlations between these components might be expected to vary according to these circumstances. The purpos...

Four 50-cow, C-sire lines of Angus cattle were established as part of a long-term selection project. Performance data through yearling age were collected on 2,749 calves during the 16-yr period, 1964 to 1979. Lines were selected for individual weaning weight, (WWL), individual yearling weight (YWL) and a combination of individual and progeny weaning weights (PTL). The fourth line was maintained...

Understanding and using EPDs continues to be a popular topic among cattle producers because of their effectiveness when properly used in genetic selection. Use of EPDs, as with many other standard management tools, is not required to survive in the beef cattle business, but those who do will excel in terms of genetic improvement. With so many traits to monitor in a cow herd, producers should no...

The data were collected from 1992 to 2009 in Burri, White Boni and Black Boni sheep maintained at the Regional Research Station in the Central Highlands of Yemen. Data were analyzed to study the effects of environmental and genetic factors on body weight and growth rate from birth to weaning. The least square means for body weights (BW) were 2.54, 2.18 and 2.26 kg for birth; 12.49, 10.58 and 11...

The IGF1 gene (insulin-like growth factor 1) is a candidate gene for marker-assisted selection strategies. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the promoter region (IGF1/SnaBI) has been reported to be associated with production traits in several cattle breeds. Here, we report its allelic frequencies in Charolais and Beefmaster breeds; we confirm its association with three growth traits: weaning ...

Genetic parameters from both single-trait and bivariate analyses for prolificacy, weight, and wool traits were estimated using REML with animal models for Targhee sheep from data collected from 1950 to 1998 at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station, Dubois, ID. Breeding values from both single-trait and seven-trait analyses calculated with the parameters estimated from the single-trait and bivariate...