Journal of Heredity · 1954 · 51 citations · 0 references
AgricultureAnimal SciencesGeneticsLivestock ProductionQuantitative GeneticsReproductive GeneticsAnimal GeneticsAnimal HusbandryBreedingSheep BreedingSheep PhysiologySheep ReproductionAutosomal Recessive InheritanceBirth Weight AssessmentBirth Weight RecordingInbreeding ControlInbreeding EffectsInbreeding GeneticsInbreeding LoadLamb Growth Performance
Weight records of a closed Ossimi flock of sheep belonging to the Animal Breeding Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Giza, covering a period of 10 years (1940–1950) were analyzed. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of inbreeding on birth weight, weaning weight and marketing weight of lambs. It has been found that inbreeding was responsible for a significant reduction in the weights of single lambs. On the other hand, the effect of inbreeding on the weights of twin lambs was not statistically significant Inbreeding of the dam had no significant effect on the weight of her offspring. Fifteen blind lambs were born during the last five years of the period of study. This defect was due to a pair of autosomal recessive genes. The frequency of this gene was estimated as 0.07.