干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

A field study was conducted on 55 Awassi crossbred lambs bent out of Malpura ewes bred artificially using freshly diluted semen of Awassi rams. Their growth and survival rates from birth to 90 days of age were compared with Malpura lambs in the farmers’ flocks of a cluster of villages around Avikanagar, Both crossbred and native lambs were kept on identical semi-intensive management throughout the period of this study. The birth wrights of male and female crossbred lambs were significantly higher than birth weights of their counterpart Malpura lambs. The body weights of these crossbred lambs at the age of 90 days were still significantly (P<0.05) higher than the respective male and female lambs of native: Malpura breed. Up to 90 days of average daily gain of crossbred lambs was consistently higher than their native counterparts, sex-wise. The survival rates of crossbred and native lambs from birth to 90 days of their their age was exceptionally good (100%). It is apparent from this field study that improvement in growth and survival of Malpura sheep can be brought about by the use af Awassi rams of South-West Asia, which resemble the Malpura breed phenotypically.