Vol. 8, Issue 1 (2019)

Author(s):
Sandeep Kumar, SP Dahiya and ZS Malik

Abstract:
The measurements of body dimensions are very important indicators of growth pattern in meat animals. Data on 349 Harnali sheep for body length (BL), body height (BH), heart girth (HG), paunch girth (PG), tail length (TL), head circumference (HC), ear length (EL), ear width (EW) and face length (FL) were analyzed to study genetic and phenotypic correlations among linear type traits. The mixed linear model with dam’s weight at lambing as covariate was used to study the effect of non-genetic factors on linear type traits. Genetic and phenotypic parameters were estimated by paternal half sib correlation method from mixed model analysis. The phenotypic correlations among various linear type traits ranged from 0.03± 0.01 to 0.81±0.04. Genetic correlations among linear type traits were low to high in magnitude ranging from -0.01±0.15 to 0.76±0.06. High genetic correlations among some of linear type traits indicated that these traits might be under the pleiotropic effect of common genes. High phenotypic and genetic correlations among linear type traits could be utilized while formulating selection criterion for genetic improvement of Harnali sheep with regards to growth pattern.