Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
Nigerian sheep breeds and their productive potentials - Adu and Ngere (1979). Limited attempts at improvement of Nigerian sheep breeds.
Localized rearing of sheep in ecological zones Osinowo and Adu, 1985. Sheep breed characteristics and agro-ecologicical location.
Sheep improvement through crossbreeding.
Introduction Contd
Some adaptive and productive traits in sheep had been linked to some variants of blood proteins. Electrophoretic study of sheep haemoglobin types showed that there are three main genotypes, which are HbAA, HbBB and HbAB. Variants of haemoglobin as genetic markers for selection of superior animals as parent of the next generation.
Breeding pattern.
Sire breed Yankasa Uda Balami Yankasa Yankasa Uda Uda Balami Balami
Dam breed Yankasa Uda Balami Uda Balami Yankasa Balami Yankasa Uda
B A Cathode
Figure 1: Electrophoregram of haemoglobin variants
AA
BB AB
40
10 75
32.0
8.0 60.0 Gene frequency
AA
BB AB
0
0 10
Dam A 0.62
Sire A 50.0
10 (100.0) 5 (27.8)
10 (55.6) 5 (33.3)
10 (66.7)
Overall mean 152.670.28 3.000.06 5.090.09 6.210.11 6.880.12 7.720.14 8.470.15 8.830.16
This is clearly seen in better performance (in terms of pre-weaning growth rate) of the lamb and the abundance of the genotype (HbAB) in the population.
He stated that HbAB genonotype showed a significant advantage over the other genotypes in both lamb and milk production.
Conclusion
Haemoglobin genotype AB (HbAB) was the predominant variant in the sheep population in NAPRI, Zaria, Nigeria. HbAB dams had reduced gestation length and produced lambs that performed outstandingly better than HbAA dams.
Recommendation
The shorter gestation length and faster lamb growth recorded for dams with HbAB should be considered and used in selection for a reduced gestation length and improved growth rate of lambs in the population.