Litter live weight at birth with varying levels of D’Man germplasm

Authors

• M. Bourfia Department of Animal Production, I.A.V. Hassan II P.O.B 6202, Rabat-Instituts, Morocco
• R. W. Touchberry Department of Animal Science, University of California Davis, CA 95616, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.72319

Abstract

A total of 208 litter birth weights, with live lambs produced in the northwest of Morocco was analyzed both by factorial analysis and by multiple regression analysis using least squares procedure. In the first model, breed group of dam and age of dam were included as fixed effects. In the second model, maternal additive and heterotic effects were included instead of breed group of dam. Results of the first analysis indicated that breed group of dam influenced litter live weight at birth (LLWB). The crossbred S x D dams (with the sire breed listed first), and the purebred D’Man dams produced the heaviest live litters, in average 4.25 and 4.08 kg, respectively. The purebred Beni Guil dams produced the lightest live litter, 3.32 kg in average. The second analysis showed that maternal additive effects were important for LLWB, and that maternal heterosis was of little importance. The ranking of maternal additive breed effects for LLWB was D’Man, Sardi, and Beni Guil in descending order.