BLOOD POLYMORPHISM AND ITS RELATION WITH SHEEP PRODUCTION AND REPRODUCTION .

Abstract

Group of animal consist of 300 Awassi ewes, 32 rams and 322 offspring were typed for blood potassium and hemoglobin, HK gene frequencies for ewes, rams, and lambs were of the order of 0.89, 0.93 and 0.88, respectively; for the HbB gene the corresponding frequencies were related 0.98, 1.00 and 0.99, respectively. B HK (High potassium, Hb type B) ewes showed a significantly higher lambing percentage, fleece weight, fiber diameter, fleece wax percentage and alkali solubility percentage, 98.5%, 20kg, 29.6µ, 2.2% and 7.6% corresponding with related 95.5%, 1.8kg, 28.6µ, 1.8% and 7.1% of B LK type respectively. B LK (Low potassium, Hb type B) ewes produced significantly more female lambs while B LK lambs, compared with B HK ones, had significantly higher birth and weaning weights. The association between B HK types and fitness was proposed as the explanation of the high gene frequency of this type.