Variability of morphological and growth characteristics of the Wurttemberg sheep breed

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine and present the basic characteristics of Wurttemberg sheep, which includes analyzes of the characteristics of body measurements of sheep, with detailed statistical analysis, in order to define the degree of variability of characteristics, as well as to investigate environmental influences (sex, year birth, season and type of birth) on the examined traits using general linear method and estimating genetic parameters for lamb growth traits, using BreedR software package in R statistical programming environment. The research was conducted on a sample of 964 sheep, 860 females and 104 males. The following morphological characteristics were examined: Height to withers, body length, girth of chest, depth of chest, witdh of chest, width of pelvic and circumference of the testicles of rams. From the physiological traits, i.e. production traits, the following were examined: body weight at birth, body weight at 30 days and body weight at 90 days of age, i.e. weight at weaning, weight in the first year and weight at 3 years. The results of the research showed that the characteristics of the body measurements of sheep and rams, are similar or equal to the characteristics that are standard for the breed, while in sheep the height to withers and the girth of chest were at lower values than the standard. Body weight values in the first as well as at the age of three were at the level of breed standards, while the weight of lambs at birth was lower than the standard. Sex and year of birth had a statistically highly significant (** = P <0.001) influence on all examined morphological traits, while in addition to these factors, body lenght was influenced by the type of birth and width of chest by birth season. The year and type of birth had a statistically highly significant (** = P <0.001) influence on the growth characteristics of lambs, while the sex and year of birth had influence on body weight in the first year as well as at the age of 3 years. Heritability was at the level of medium values, for the trait of body weight at birth 0.30, for body weight at 30 days 0.23, the highest for body weight at weaning 0.38.