Relationship between Birth Weight and Body Growth of Awassi Lambs during Early Weaning

Abstract

A study was conducted to find the relationship between body weight of male and female Awassi lambs at birth with their body development at early weaning period. Sixty lambs were used and divided into two groups (I, II). Each group was consisted of 30 lambs and divided into two subgroups (15 male and 15 female).  Groups formed according to body weight at birth as follows: Group I, lambs with less than 3kg of weight; and Group II, lambs with more or equal than 3 kg of weight. Lambs were kept with their mothers and suckling ad libitum throughout the experimental period and were weighed at birth day (1 day old), at 30 days, and at 60 days. Differences between groups of lambs at 60 days of age were significant (p<0.05). Correlations ranged from low to moderate among the respective traits and ranged between positive from 0.505 to 0.762 and negative from -0.181 to -0.513. Highest correlation in this study found between age (1-60) in male lambs (0.762) and in female lambs (0.659) of group II. The correlation coefficient effect at 60 days of age was higher in males than females lambs (p<0.05) where the correlation coefficient was 66% for male and 50% for female lambs. Therefore, lambs with heavier birth weights, showed the best production results in the development of body weight during the period of 60 days of early weaning process, which indicated that selection of lambs with greater birth weight may contribute to increasing Awassi lamb body development and growth.

Keywords: Awassi sheep, Body growth, Correlation, Early weaning.