Estimated breeding values for growth traits of Kashmir merino sheep in an organized farm of Kashmir

Data on 816 Kashmir Merino lambs sired by 30 rams, maintained at Government Sheep Breeding Farm Goabal, spanning over 4 years (2014 to 2017) were collected and used to evaluate the sire by estimating the breeding value by Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) method of with sex and year of birth and as fixed factors. The analysis was carried out by mixed model least-squares maximum likelihood (LSMLMW) computer (PC-2) programme designed by Harvey (1990). The overall breeding values (B.V) (kg)) were 3.47±0.03, 11.07±0.14, 17.46±0.16, 20.09±0.16 and 25.18±0.18 for birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), six month body weight, (6MW), nine month body weight (9MW) and yearling body weight (12MW), respectively. The product moment correlations between estimated breeding values of sires among production traits were low to moderate ranging from 0.15±0.03 to 0.56±0.02. Similarly the Spearman’s rank correlation among different body weight traits was moderate to high ranging from 0.25±0.03 to 0.78±0.01. Few studies on this breed of J\u0026K have been conducted in the past by some workers [16, 17, 18]. Keeping in view the estimated breeding values and correlations among breeding values it is concluded that 6MW can serve as a good selection criterion at early age in this flock owing to favorable correlations.