Evaluation of the main productive traits of Ile de France sheep in Bulgaria

Genoveva Staykova, Evgenia Achkakanova

Abstract: Subject of the study were 1115 pure-bred sheep of the Ile de France breed. The animals were born during the period 2008-2016 and were raised under similar technological conditions and nutrition in three farms in the northern part of Bulgaria. The weight growth of 1115 ewes was studied from birth to 2 years of age, as well as the reproductive traits. Live weight at birth, at 30 days, 70 days, 9 months and 2 years of the age of sheep were measured. The traits average daily gain in periods, conception rates, and biological prolificacy from first to fifth parity of ewes were investigated. 2413 observations in total were recorded. The information was derived from the Genealogy Book kept by the Breeders of the Ile de France Breeders Association in Bulgaria (AILFB), as instructed in the Instruction Codex for Control of Productive Traits and Complex Evaluation. The information was processed using the variation statistics methods. It was found that Ile de France breed was successfully adapted in our country. The average live weight recorded was: 4.564 kg – at birth, 15.049 kg at 30 days, 24.137 kg at 70 days, 54.750 kg at 9 months, and 70.465 kg at 2 years. The average daily gains gradually decreased from 0.349 kg in the first month after birth, to 0.228 kg at 70 days, and to 0.153 kg for the period from 70 days to 9 months of age. Average conception rates of 94.98 % in the ewes was established, ranging from 92.89 % at sixth parity to 97.68 % at fourth parity. Highest was the prolificacy (1.720 lambs per ewe) at fourth parity (P< 0.001), the average of the studied data being 1.581 lambs per ewe.

Keywords: average daily gain; conception rates; Ile de France; live weight; prolificacy; Sheep

Date published: 2019-09-05