Growth rate and wool production in Muzaffarnagri sheep and its exotic grades

The pre- and post-weaning daily body weight gains and first and second six monthly greasy fleece yields from 2502 lambs belonging to seven genetic groups, distributed over a period of nine years, were analyzed by least squares technique. The analysis revealed highly significant influence of genetic groups, sex of lambs, season and year of birth of lambs on these traits. The regression of dam's weight at shearing showed significant effects on wool yield at first and second shearing. Suffolk half bred (F1) had superiority in production over other genetic groups. The male lambs gained significantly more weight and yielded higher fleece. The lambs born during July to December (season 2) performed better. The year to year variation also had highly significant effect on different economic traits under study.