Ewe and lamb pre-weaning performance of Pelibuey and Katahdin hair sheep breeds under humid tropical conditions

Figures & data

Table 1. Pre-weaning ewe and lamb performance traits (least squares mean ± SE) in Pelibuey and Katahdin breeds.

Traits^a	Breed
	Pelibuey	Katahdin	p-value
TMY (kg)	79.90 ± 2.97	99.26 ± 3.48	<.001
DMY (kg)	1.43 ± 0.05	1.77 ± 0.06	<.001
IBW (kg)	47.78 ± 1.29	43.87 ± 1.51	.055
FBW (kg)	44.71 ± 1.44	44.64 ± 1.69	.975
BWC (kg/d)	−0.06 ± 0.02	0.01 ± 0.03	.025
LWW (kg)	15.49 ± 0.62	16.05 ± 0.73	.561
EE (%)	33.78 ± 1.67	36.57 ± 1.96	.284
BW (kg)	3.27 ± 0.12	3.95 ± 0.14	.001
WW (kg)	10.72 ± 0.35	11.28 ± 0.41	.310
ADG (kg/d)	0.13 ± 0.01	0.13 ± 0.01	.840

^a TMY: Total milk production; DMY: Daily milk production; IBW: Initial body weight; FBW: Final body weight; BWC: Change in ewe body weight per day during lactation; LWW: Litter weaning weight; EE: Ewe efficiency calculated as LWW/FBW × 100; BW: Birth weight; WW: Weaning weight at 56 days; ADG: Daily pre-weaning weight gain of lambs

Figure 1. Lamb pre-weaning live weights (a) and ewe daily milk production (b) in Pelibuey (discontinuous line) and Katahdin (continuous line) breeds.

Figure 2. Lamb pre-weaning live weight and ewe daily milk production in Pelibuey (a, b, respectively) and Katahdin (c, d, respectively) breeds by litter size (single: continuous line, double: discontinuous line).

Table 2. Pre-weaning ewe and lamb performance traits by litter size of Pelibuey and Katahdin breeds.

Traits^b	Breed^c
	Pelibuey		Katahdin
	Single	Double	Single	Double	p-value
TMY (kg)	65.91 ± 3.55^c	93.89 ± 4.76^b	79.45 ± 4.02^b,c	119.06 ± 5.69^a	<.001
DMY (kg)	1.17 ± 0.06^c	1.67 ± 0.08^b	1.41 ± 0.07^b,c	2.12 ± 0.10^a	<.001
IBW (kg)	45.45 ± 1.53	50.10 ± 2.06	42.93 ± 1.74	44.81 ± 2.46	.172
FBW (kg)	42.65 ± 1.72	46.77 ± 2.31	46.77 ± 1.95	42.50 ± 2.76	.175
BWC (kg/d)	−0.05 ± 0.02	−0.06 ± 0.03	0.07 ± 0.02	0.04 ± 0.04	.059
LWW (kg)	12.66 ± 0.75^b	18.31 ± 1.00^a	12.91 ± 0.84^b	19.19 ± 1.19^a	<.001
EE (%)	28.80 ± 1.99^b	38.76 ± 2.67^a	29.25 ± 2.26^b	43.89 ± 3.20^a	<.001
BW (kg)	3.53 ± 0.17^a,b	3.01 ± 0.15^b	4.13 ± 0.19^a	3.77 ± 0.19^a	.044
WW (kg)	12.07 ± 0.53^a	9.37 ± 0.46^b	12.94 ± 0.58^a	9.61 ± 0.58^b	<.001
ADG (kg/d)	0.15 ± 0.01^a	0.11 ± 0.01^b	0.16 ± 0.01^a	0.10 ± 0.01^b	<.001

^a LSM ± SE: Least square mean ± standard error.

^b TMY: Total milk production; DMY: Daily milk production; IBW: Initial body weight; FBW: Final body weight; BWC: Change in ewe body weight per day during lactation; LWW: Litter weaning weight; EE: Ewe efficiency calculated as LWW/FBW × 100; BW: Birth weight; WW: Weaning weight at 56 days; ADG: Daily pre-weaning weight gain of lambs.

^c Means in same trait with different letters are statistically different (p < .05).