Abstract:
The objectives of this study were to document the phenotypic characteristics like qualitative and quantitative traits of Kajli Sheep breed of Punjab. The study was conducted at Livestock Experiment Station (LES), Khushab and LES, Khizerabad district Sargodha, Punjab. Data were collected on 300 adult Kajli sheep for twelve quantitative and four qualitative traits. The qualitative traits were visually recorded. The coat color of this breed was white creamy with non-pigmented skin. In 88.67% of sheep, the lower 1/3rd of ears were black and black circles were present around the eyes. All animals were having Roman nose with no horns present. The quantitative data were analyzed using mixed linear model in SAS. The overall means ± standard deviations of body weight (BW), body length(BL), height at wither(HW) , heart girth (HG), ear length (EL), head length (HL), mandibular circumference (MC), tail length (TL), teat circumference (TTC), teat length (TTL), scrotal length (SL) and Scrotal circumference (SC) were 50.55 ±7.53 kg, 66.68 ± 4.09 cm, 76.37 ± 5.24 cm, 93.34 ± 7.73cm, 37.39 ± 4.35 cm, 26.89 ± 1.88 cm, 37.22 ± 3.79 cm, 22.31 ± 3.90 cm, 2.16 ± 0.54 cm, 1.96 ± 0.51 cm, 23.23 ± 1.63 cm and 33.09 ± 2.56 cm, respectively. Out of three hundred animals, 278 were females while 22 were males. The body measurements of male animals were significantly higher than the females (P0.05) values for BW, BL, MC, SL and SC. The present study provides baseline data on various quantitative and qualitative traits in Kajli sheep. The results of the present study would be useful for future conservation and genetic improvement programs in Kajli sheep.
Keywords:
Pakistan
,
Characterization
,
Punjab
,
Qualitative traits
,
quantitative traits
,
Kajli sheep