Wool production of Nali sheep in hot arid region of Rajasthan

The data on 567 Nali lambs born from 1989 to 94 at CSWRI, Arid Region Campus, Bikaner were analysed to study the effect of year of birth and sex of lamb on greasy fleece weight in first six clips (I to VI clip), average of six clips and I clip, II clip and life time wool production efficiency using LSMLMW computer programme. The genetic and phenotypic parameters were estimated using the same computer programme. The overall least squares means were 0.965±0.021, 0.667±0.022, 0.875±0.034, 0.733±0.030, 1.056±0.045, 0.760±0.059 and 0.838±0.015 kg and 5.55±0.123, 3.08±0.108 and 4.09±0.082 percent, respectively. The effect of year was found to be highly significant (P<0.01) on all the traits except, significant (P<0.05) on IV Clip and non-significant on VI Clip. The gradual decline over the years was observed in I clip, II clip, IV clip, average of six clips and efficiency of wool production in I clip, II clip and life time. The III clip increased from 1989 to 1991 then declined upto 1993. The sex of lamb showed significant (p<0.05) effect on IV clip, V clip, average of clips and efficiency of wool production in II clip and life time and highly significant (P<0.01) on VI clip. The III, IV, V and VI clips were heavier in males. The females showed heavier greasy fleece weights. than males for I and II clips, but these differences were not significant. The regression of 6 and 12 months body weight on I clip and II clip was found to be highly significant. The heritability estimates of greasy fleece weight in first, second, third clips, efficiency of second clip and life time wool production were 0.574±0.286, 0.023±0.144, 0.085±0.188, 0.001±0.137 and 0.099±0.146, respectively. The genetic and phenotypic correlations of greasy fleece weight of first clip with second clip were found to be >1 and 0.140, respectively.