Estimation of Genetic Parameters of Some Productive Traits in Black Boni Sheep

Abed M. Al-Bial*(1) Ahmed Al-Dous(1)   Sharf Al-Azazy(1 ) and Abdulah Salah(1)

(1). The Regional Research Station in the Central Highlands, Agriculture Research & Extension Authority, Yemen
(*Corresponding author: Dr. Abed M. Al-Bial.  Email: aalbial@yahoo.com)

Received: 24/10/2016                                      Accepted: 09/01/2017

Abstract

In this study, the pedigree data, and production performance of 1074 records of Black Boni sheep were used. The sheep were kept at the Regional Research Station in the Central Highlands of Yemen, during the period 1992 to 2015, to estimate heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations of some productive traits. The results showed that the general averages of birth weight, weaning weight, and daily gain from birth to weaning were 2.18 ± 0.011 kg, 10.64 ± 0.23 kg, and 93.71 ± 8.22 g/lamb, respectively. Estimated heritability values for birth weight, weaning weight, and daily gain were 0.38 ± 0.05, 0.30 ± 0.03 and 0.26 ± 0.1, respectively. Phenotypic and genetic correlations among studied traits were highly significant (P<0.01), and they ranged between 0.46 – 0.83 and 0.32 – 0.77, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of genetic selection to improve any of the studied traits, will lead to an improvement in the other correlated traits.

Key words: Black Boni sheep, Genetic parameters, Heritability, Phenotypic and genetic correlations.

Full paper in Arabic: Estimation of Genetic Parameters of Some Productive Traits in Black Boni Sheep