Effect of Breed and Some Non - Genetic Factors on Milk Production and Some Proportions of Its Chemical Components in Two Breeds of Local Sheep

Abstract

Abstract : The study was carried out on 19 ewes of local Awassi sheep and 12ewes local Arabi sheep in the Al-kafeel sheep station Karbala, to determine the effect of breed and some non-genetic factors such as (sex of the lamb, type of birth, age and weight of ewes at birth) on daily and total milk production and lactation period and some of milk components (fat, protein and lactose). The results showed that a significant effect (P <0.05) of the breed on milk production traits where Awassi sheep recorded the highest mean (0.91 kg , 101.63 kg , 104.86 day) compared to the Arabi sheep she was means (0.77 kg , 88.15 kg , 99.15 day) respectively. As well as in proportions of milk components with mean( 5.1 , 4.90 , 5.51) % respectively compared to the Arabi sheep (4.70 . 4.20 . 4.89) ewes with male lambs also exceeded superior ewes with female lambs in daily and total milk production and the lactation period the sex of the lamb did not affect the proportions of milk components the weight of the ewes had a significant effect (P <0.05) in milk production attributes with superior weight of ewes on lower ewes and did not affect the proportions of milk ingredients except for lactose. The type of birth and the age of the ewes did not have a significant effect in all the studied traits except for the superiority (P<0.05) of young ewes on age ewes in the fat percentage of milk.

Keywords

• awassi and arabi sheep
• milk production
• karbala
• genetic