EVALUATION OF AWASSI-MENZ SHEEP CROSSBREEDING PROGRAMS AT DEBRE-BIRHAN AND AMED GUYA SHEEP MULTIPLICATION AND BREED IMPROVEMENT CENTERS

Abstract

The study was conducted at Debre Birhan and Amed Guya sheep multiplication and breed improvement centers with the objective of evaluation performance of Awassi-Menz sheep crossbreeding program in the ranches. To achieve this, survey was conducted on crossbred program beneficiaries and data from the two ranches was used. Data collection conducted via questionnaire survey from respondents, focus group discussions and secondary data from ranches. A total of 104 beneficiary farmers were purposively selected and 9,840 lambs for Birth weight (5,991 at Debre Birhan and 3,849 at Amed Guya), 8,299 lambs for weaning weight (4,833 at Debre Birhan and 3,466 at Amed Guya), 4,462 ewes for lambing interval (2,995 at Debre Birhan and 1,467 at Amed Guya) and 368 ewes for age at first lambing (285 at Debre Birhan and 83 at Amed Guya) were used for analysis. The effects of different fixed factors like blood level of lambs and ewes, lamb sex, parity of dam, season of birth, year of birth, and birth type on survival rate, productive and reproductive performance were analyzed. The acceptance of crossbred lambs by the farmers, the preference of respondents on different traits and the purpose of using crossbred Awassi-Menz sheep were evaluated from Menz Gera Mider and Baso districts. The main smallholder sheep producers’ traits of interest were growth rate, body size, and color in the order of their importance. The overall average ram dissemination performances of the ranches per year were 92.76±14.29 rams. The overall birth and weaning weight of Awassi -Menz crossbred sheep in the present study was 3.65±0.009 and 16.17±0.038 kg respectively. In the present study lamb blood level (50%, 75%, 87.5% and 93.75%) parity, lamb sex and lamb birth year had very highly significant (p<0.0001) effect on birth weight and weaning weight of lambs at both centers. The overall age at first lambing and lambing interval of Awassi-Menz sheep in the present study was 425±6.92 and 436.44±2.41 days. The effect of birth year were significant (p<0.0001) on age at first lambing and lambing interval of sheep at both centers. The overall survival rate from birth to 30 days, 90 days, 180 days, 270 days and yearling age were reported to be 90.6%, 86.2%, 84.6%, 84.5% and 84.5%, respectively. It can be concluded that the higher blood level of Awassi crossbred sheep had higher body weight than the lower blood level of Awassi crossbred sheep. The lower blood level of Awassi crossbreed sheep lambs (50%) had higher survival rate than lambs with higher blood level (75% and 87.5%) Awassi-Menz crossbred lambs. Blood level effects influenced survival rates in the study and needs to be considered whenever there is a need to improve the performances of Awassi crossbred sheep breeds both at Debre Birhan and Amed Guya centers