Vol. 12, Special Issue 9 (2023)

Author(s):
D Anil Pavan Kumar, M Gnana Prakash, B Ramesh Gupta, T Raghunandan and A Sarat Chandra

Abstract:
The current investigation was taken up to study the growth performance by evaluating the genetic parameters of growth traits like heritability estimates, genetic correlations and phenotypic correlations pertaining to pre-weaning and post-weaning body weights at different age periods in a flock comprising of 300 Deccani lambs which were maintained at Livestock Research Station, Mahabubnagar in the state of Telangana. The heritability estimates obtained for pre-weaning body weights in Deccani lambs were low during the pre-weaning periods of 0, 15, 30. 45, 60, 75 and 90 days which ranged 0.10 ± 0.01 to 0.14 ± 0.07. The heritability estimates obtained for post-weaning body weights in Deccani lambs were moderate during post-weaning periods of 6 months, 9 months and yearling ages which ranged from 0.20 ± 0.06 to 0.30 ± 0.05. Heritability estimates obtained for the post-weaning body weights indicated the effective mass selection for rapid growth. The genetic and phenotypic correlations among the pre and post-weaning body weights were all positive except that between birth and yearling ages.