The effect of chosen factors of the growth of lambs crosses of the breeds Charollais, Suffolk and Improved Valachian

• Main Authors: Igor Dobeš, Jan Kuchtík
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Mendel University Press 2005-01-01
• Series: Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis
• Subjects: lambs; growth; crossbreds; Charollais; Suffolk; Improved Valachian
• Online Access: https://acta.mendelu.cz/53/2/0039/
• ISSN: 1211-8516; 2464-8310

The aim of our study was to evaluate the effects of chosen factors (crossbreds, sex, litter size, age of ewes and interaction between sex and litter size) on the growth of lambs crossbreds of the breeds Charollais (Ch), Suffolk (Sf) and Improved Valachian (IV). The evaluation was performed in the year 2004 on the farm Růžďka and involved altogether 96 lambs. The growth ability was evaluated at the following crossbreds: Ch x Sf (n = 28), (Ch x Sf) x Sf (n = 28), IV x Sf (n = 21) and (IV x Sf) x Sf (n = 19). All lambs under study were born indoor in January. Lambs were kept indoor till the end of the evaluation. From the evaluation of effects of crossbreds, sex and age of ewes on the live body weights and daily gains of lambs above all result that these factors showed a significant effect only on the live body weight at birth. On the other hand, the factors of litter size and interaction between sex and litter size showed a highly significant (P < 0.01) effect on the live body weights of lambs at birth, at 70 and at 100 days of age as well as on their daily gains within the intervals from birth to 70 and 100 days of age. It can be concluded that the daily gains were highly uniform but relatively low in all crossbreds under the study within the time interval from birth to the age of 100 days, while the non-significantly highest daily gain was recorded in the crossbreds of IV x Sf (211 g). On the other hand the lowest ones were observed in the crossbreds of CH x Sf and (IV x Sf) x Sf (199 g).