Evaluation of some productive characteristics of Sohagi ewes under an intensive production system and their response to age and weight at first mating..

Elaref, Mohamed Y.; Tawfik, Hamdan M; Taghian, Raghda A.

doi:10.21608/jsasj.2024.402916

Evaluation of some productive characteristics of Sohagi ewes under an intensive production system and their response to age and weight at first mating..

Document Type : Research and Review Papers

Authors

¹ Animal Production Department Faculty of Agriculture Sohag University Sohag Egypt

² Animal Production Department Faculty of Agriculture Al-Azhar University, Assiut Branch Assiut Egypt

³ Animal Production Department Faculty of Agriculture Assuit University Assuit Egypt

10.21608/jsasj.2024.402916

Abstract

To identify some productive characteristics of Sohagi ewes and their response to age and weight at first mating under the intensive production system, data of 75 Sohagi ewes that had completed their production period were gathered from records of a closed nucleus flock of Sohagi sheep. Results show that the average total lifespan of the ewes was 2192.45 ± 44.05 days, average length of Sohagi ewes' longevity was 1542.1±36.03 days, the average number of births during the productive ewe’s life was 6.11±0.15 births/ewe’s life, and the average lambing interval was 254.5±3.79 days. The average lamb yield during the productive ewe’s life was 7.51±0.25 lambs/ewe’s life with an average twinning rate and mortality rate until weaning of 1.22±0.25 and 16.46±0.87 %, respectively. The older and heavier ewes at mating were significantly higher in longevity and number of births/ewe’s life than the younger and lighter ewes. The average lamb weight at birth and weaning were significantly increased for older and heavier ewes at mating than for younger and lighter ewes, while the mortality rate until weaning was significantly decreased. The correlation between age and weight of Sohagi ewes and longevity was positive and moderate (from 0.429 to 0.461). Finally, it can be concluded that Sohagi ewes have strong productive and reproductive potential. So, providing environmental conditions, management treatments, and nutritional needs for Sohagi ewes must be paid to achieve maximize benefit from this local breed by increasing its productive life span and increasing the yield of offspring.

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