Reproductive Performance of Balochi Sheep in Different Ecological
Zones of Balochistan, Pakistan
Mudassar Jahan1,3, Mohammad Masood Tariq2*,
Muhammad Azam Kakar3 and Abdul Waheed4
Livestock and Dairy Development Department Balochistan, Quetta;
2Center for Advanced Studies in Vaccinology and Biotechnology
(CASVAB), University of Balochistan, Quetta; 3Department
of Biotechnology and Informatics,
Balochistan University of
Information Technology, Engineering and Management Science, Quetta;
4Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bahauddin Zakariya
University, Multan, Pakistan
*Corresponding Author:
tariqkianiraja@hotmail.com
Abstract
The data on reproductive performance of Balochi sheep (n=150) kept at three
Government sheep farms in Balochistan, Quetta
(KSBFM) (n=50), Loralai (SRCY)
(n=50) and Usta Mohammad (UMSF) (n=50), under semi-intensive management system,
were analyzed. General linear model was used for analyzing the data. The
fixed effects in the model included location of flock, age, type of birth, sex
of lamb and their interactions. The
overall findings of reproductive traits such as
fertility, prolificacy, single lambing, twining rate, lambs born alive
and
sex ratio (male: female)
were 92.67,
101.33,89.86,
10.14, 96.33%
and 50.33:49.67
respectively. Highest value for twinning rate was recorded in UMSF (13.04%)
and lowest in KSBFM (6.52%). All
traits were
significantly different
(P<0.05)
from each other except
lambs born alive and season of birth were non significant
(P>0.05) between flocks.
The overall results revealed that age of dam, age at first service (AFS),
service period (SP), age at first lambing (AFL) and lambing interval (LI) were
1078±2.2, 579.61±0.6, 206.25±0.2,
731.67±0.3 and 256.60±0.3 days, respectively. The results of ANOVA showed that
locations had significant effect
(P<0.05)
on AFS
and SP; however lambing interval
and age at first lambing were not affected.Age of ewe, type of birth, sex of lamb(s) born and interaction between
these factors did not influence the traits significantly.
It is concluded that reproductive performance of Balochi sheep was modest so it
is vital to improve management, nutritional and breeding practices at the farm.