Relationship of Body Weights with the Productive Performance of Lambs of the Awassi and Karakul Breeds and Crossbred Sheep

Abstract

Abstract A study was carried out on 60 ewes of the Awassi and Karakul breeds, and cross at age of birth, weaned and 6 months in Barakat Abi Al-Fadl Al-Abbas Station in Karbala Governorate, Iraq from the first of June 2022 until the first of June of the year 2023.with the aim of studying relationship between body weights (BW) of lambs and productive performance (PP) through a set of factors (Genetic group - Sex of lamb - Age of dams - Month of birth - Weight of dams), The statistical analysis system (SAS) was used to analyze the data. The result is displayed as follows: The genetic group, the sex of lambs, the age of the ewe, and the month of birth didn’t affect BW and average weight gain (AWG) of lambs at birth, weaning, and 6 months of age. Only weight of the ewe had a significant effect (P<0.05) on weight of lambs at 6 months of age. The ewes weighing more than 48 kg were superior to the rest of the other weights, with an average weight of 28.35 kg, while the weight of the ewe did not affect the weight of lambs at birth and weaning, also affected weight of the ewe on rate of weight gain at birth, weaning, and 6 months, with the superiority of ewes weighing more than 48 kg over the rest of the weights. Weaning weight was positively correlated with birth weight and highly significant (P<0.01), and the regression coefficient between 6-month-old body weight and weaning weight was high and significant (P<0.01).