Genetic investigation on Kleiber ratio in Sonadi sheep

Abstract

Data of 1408 Sonadi lambs born during 2012-2019 under Mega Sheep Seed Project at CVAS Navania Udaipur (Rajasthan) were analyzed to assess the influence of period, season, sex and type of birth on Kleiber ratio. The overall least-squares means along with standard error of Kleiber ratio - KR1 (0-3M), KR2 (3-6M), KR3 (6-9M) and KR4 (9-12M) were 13.16±0.30, 6.59±0.33, 4.04±0.31 and 5.24±0.35, respectively. Effect of sire was highly significant (P≤0.01) on KR1, KR2 and KR3 whereas significant (P≤0.05) on KR4. Period of birth had highly significant (P≤0.01) effect on all the KRs. Season of birth had highly significant (P≤0.01) effect on KR4 only whereas sex of lamb had highly significant (P≤0.01) effect on KR2 only. Type of birth had significant (P≤0.05) effect on KR4 only. Estimates of heritability forKR1, KR2, KR3 and KR4 were 0.82±0.18, 0.38±0.11, 0.51±0.15 and 0.23±0.13, respectively. Genetic correlation was negative between KR1 and other KRs whereas it was positive among other KRs. The estimate of phenotypic correlation among Kleiber ratios was negative and low to high.