RELATIONSHIP OF REPRODUCTION PERFORMANCE WITH BODY CONDITION SCORE AND BODY WEIGHT IN EWES OF TRACIAN FINE-FLEECE BREED

Petia Slavova, Nedka Dimova, Ivelina Ivanova, Zhana Peeva, Staika Laleva, Vasil Vasilev

Abstract: Study was performed in the Agricultural Institute - Stara Zagora.in the period June 2008 - May 2009.The object o f study were ewes the Thracian Fine-Fleece Breed herd, placed under the equal conditions of rearing and feeding. Five evaluations of body condition score (BCS) are conducted. Along with the assessment
o f body condition is determined and live weight. In processing the animals were divided into three groups according to type o f lambing - I-st - lambing
single, II -nd- lambing twins and III-s - barren ewes. Average reproduction performance was definited according to individual body condition score and live
weight in separate classes. For variation and statistical analysis o f the obtained data was used STATISTICA for Windows software. Results of the study shows that: - Physiological status has a substantial influence on the dynamics o f change of BCS and live weight of sheep during the year. It is a significant reduction in live weight and BCS during period after lambing, ewes lambing twins when they lost part of the fat reserves for breeding offspring; - Higher reproduction performance have animals with 3.0 - 3.5 BCS and 51.00-60.0 kg live weight in the period before insemination. Lambing ewes were recovered after the period o f lambing and reached body condition that allows next insemination.

Keywords: body condition score; live weight; reproduction performance; Thracian Fine-Fleece Breed

Date published: 2023-02-14