Milk Production in Awassi Sheep and their Crosses with Assaf under Accelerated Lambing System

Jalal E. Alkass, Waleed A. R. AL-Azzawi, & Hafedh M.AL-Tayy

1 College of Science, University of Baghdad, 2 IPA Agriculture, Research Center, 3 Technical Institute, Karbelaa

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17656/jzs.10190

Abstract

At the Sheep Breeding Station, IPA Agricultural Research Center, milk production was investigated in

92 Iraq Awassi (AW) and 95 Assaf x Awassi (AA) ewes under accelerated lambing system , together with effects of age

and body weight of ewe , lambing season and sex by litter size of lamb using General Linear Model (GLM)

procedure . The overall means of milk yield and lactation period were 85.64 kg and 132.36 days, respectively.

AA ewes surpassed significantly AW ewes in milk yield (99.15 vs. 74.99 kg) and lactation period (139.0 vs.126.8

days).Age, weight of dam at lambing and sex by type of birth of lamb had significant effects on milk yield. Milk

produced by ewes lambed at first season was significantly higher than ewes lambed during second and third season.

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