ing breeds such as the Rambouillet, Corriedale,. Targhee and Columbia or the Australian Merino and, consequently, have dealt primarily with fleece characters ...
The Effects of Inbreeding in a Flock of Hampshire Sheep William R. Lamberson, David L. Thomas and Kenneth E. Rowe J ANIM SCI 1982, 55:780-786.
The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on the World Wide Web at: http://jas.fass.org/content/55/4/780
www.asas.org
Downloaded from jas.fass.org by guest on July 28, 2011
THE EFFECTS OF INBREEDING IN A FLOCK OF HAMPSHIRE SHEEP 1'2'3 William R. Lamberson 4 , David L. Thomas s and Kenneth E. Rowe 6 Oregon State University, Corvallis 97331
Summery A registered flock of Hampshire sheep that had been predominantly d o s e d for about 30 y r was utilized to study the effects of inbreeding on productivity of the 1980 and 1981 lamb crops. Five generation pedigrees for ewes and rams were used to calculate inbreeding coefficients. The median inbreeding coefficient of 598 lambs was 10.7%, and ranged from 1.4 to 29.6%. The median inbreeding coefficient of 212 ewes was 4.3%, and ranged from .0 to 28.1%. Regression techniques were used to determine the effects of ewe inbreeding on 6-mo fleece weight and ewe breeding weight and the effects of both ewe and lamb inbreeding on days from ram introduction to conception, fertility, prolificacy, lamb survival to 7 and 90 d of age, weight of lamb at birth, 30, 60, and 90 d and weight of lamb weaned/ewe exposed. A 1% increase in lamb inbreeding reduced (P
