The high ovulation rate and fertility are very important production traits in sheep production. The aim of the study was to determine the BMP-15, BMPR-1B and GDF-9 gene mutations which are related with the high ovulation with high ovulation rate in Chios, Kivircik, Awassi and Imrose sheep breeds. Fifty sheep from each breed were provided for this study. Blood samples for all the animals were co...

The Finnish Landrace (Finnsheep) is a well known high-prolificacy sheep breed and has been used in many countries as a source of genetic material to increase fecundity of local breeds. Analyses to date have indicated that mutations with a large effect on ovulation rate are not responsible for the exceptional prolificacy of Finnsheep. The objectives of this study were to ascertain if: 1) any of ...

This paper concerns the likely origin of three mutations with large effects on ovulation rate identified in the Belclare and Cambridge sheep breeds; two in the BMP15 gene (FecX(G) and FecX(B)) and the third (FecG(H)) in GDF9. All three mutations segregate in Belclare sheep while one, FecX(B), has not been found in the Cambridge. Both Belclare and Cambridge breeds are relatively recently develop...