Reproductive Performance of Ewes and Growth Characteristics of Lambs in Zom Sheep Reared in Karacadag District

Abstract

This is the first study and report in which some ewe reproductive and lamb growth performances of Zom sheep were investigated and described in Turkey. The research was carried out on three different flocks randomly chosen among the Zom sheep flocks in the district of Karacadag surrounded by Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa and Mardin provinces, and lasted for two years, 2010 and 2011. The data consisted of 242 and 254 heads of lamb born from 226 and 214 heads of ewe in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Lambing rate (LR), twinning rate (TW), fecundity (FEC) and litter size (LITS) were found as 94%, 17%, 1.09 and 1.17 on average, respectively. There was no significant difference among flocks within years or among years within flocks in terms of ewe reproductive performance, except for the flock 2 in terms of TW. Average means of the birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT) at 90th day and 6th month live weight (SMLW) were 4.00 kg and 22.06 kg, 36.11 kg, respectively. The effects of age of dam, type of birth and sex of lambs were significant on BWT, WWT and SMLW (P<0.05). Besides the WWT was also significantly affected by the year (P<0.05), every 1 kg increase in BWT caused 2.02 +/- 0.281 kg increase on average in WWT of lambs (P<0.01). In addition, it was observed that the havier lambs at birth were havier in terms of SMLW (P<0.01). The average daily weight gain (ADWG1) and survival rate (SR) of lambs at weaning were 200 g/day and 90%, respectively.