Economic Values for Traits in Kurdi Sheep Breed of Iran
Using Bio-Economic model
Majid Bigham1, Mahyar Heydarpour2 , Kamal Shojaeian1, D.Ali Saghi3
Animal Science Dept. College of Agriculture, Zabol University – Iran
Animal Science Dept. College of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad-Iran
3
Agricultural Research Station of Khorassan, Animal Science section, Mashhad-Iran
1
2
Abstract:
Economic performance in a productive unit has the basic important role for each breeding
system. It is important to know the contribution of economic values in the breeding
objective for sheep under traditional management in order to design appropriate breeding
schemes for them. Economic values were calculated for fourteen traits of Kurdi sheep
breed of Iran by using bio-economic model in this study. A farm of 100 ewes with
traditional management and close breeding system were considered as a model for one
year. The traits considered were live weight of ewe, pregnancy rate, litter size, birth
weight, number of lambs before weaning, weaning weight, average daily gain before
weaning, weight at 6 months, average daily gain after weaning, number of lambs after
weaning, fleece weight, replacement rate, long breeding life and feed consuming. The
economic values indicate that average daily gain before weaning, litter size, pregnancy
rate of ewe and feed consuming are likely to be important traits in Kurdi sheep breed.
Traits such as number of lambs before weaning, weaning weight and birth weight had
positive economic values and traits of weight at 6 months, average daily gain after
weaning and number of lambs after weaning had zero economic values. Feed consuming,
replacement rate of ewe, live weight of ewe and fleece weight had negative economic
values, consequently.
Keywords: Economic values, Bio-economic model, Kurdi sheep breed.