Vol. 10, Special Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
Ambreen Hamadani, NA Ganai, Mudasir Andrabi, Safeer Alam, Haidar Ali Ahmad, Ishraq Hussain and Tariq Raja

Abstract:
Corriedale is an important breed of sheep which has shown good performance in the temperate agroclimatic conditions of Jammu and Kashmir. In order to evaluate the effects of various non genetic factors on body weights at various ages of this breed, least square analysis was performed. In this regard data for the past 52 years (1969-2021) were collected from SKUAS-Kashmir’s University farm. The effects of sex, season of birth, year of birth and dam parity were evaluated. The effect of sex was significant for bodyweights at all ages with males being significantly heavier than females at all ages under study. The effect of year was significant for most years for weaning weight, 6-season bodyweight, 9-season bodyweight and 12-season bodyweight. It was significant only for the decade following 2006 and five years following 1996 in case of birthweight. The effect of parity was only significant in case of birthweight with pleuriparous ewes producing lambs of higher birthweight than primiparous ewes. Most lambs at the farm are born during spring season. The effect of the season of birth was generally non-significant with the exception of weaning and 12-season weight. It is concluded that non genetic factors in general have a significant effect on the bodyweights of sheep and their effects cannot be ignored during selection of animals and improving management practices could go a long way in improving the performance as well.