Reproduction in Javanese Sheep: Evidence for a Gene with Large Effect on Ovulation Rate and Litter Size1

作者：Geoffrey E. Bradford, J. F. Quirke, P. Sitorus, Ismeth Inounu, Bess Tiesnamurti, Frances Bell, I.C. Fletcher, Donald T. Torell · 发表于：Journal of Animal Science · 年份：1986 · DOI：10.2527/jas1986.632418x · 被引用次数：76 · 研究领域：Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock、Livestock Farming and Management

Three breeds of Javanese sheep are described briefly and data suggesting the segregation of a gene with large effect on ovulation rate and litter size are presented. The three breeds are Javanese Thin Tail (JTT), Javanese Fat Tail (JFT) and Semarang (SEM), the last possibly a substrain of JTT. All three breeds have mean mature ewe weights under 30 kg. Ovulation rate and litter size did not differ significantly among the three; all had litter sizes of up to 4 or 5 with a mean for mature ewes of approximately 2. Ovulation rate ranged from 1 to 5 and had an average within-breed repeatability of .8 within season and .65 between seasons. Within-breed repeatability of litter size was .35 +/- .06. Prenatal survival in pregnant ewes with two, three and four or more ovulations averaged 93, 88 and 86% over two seasons. Dams that had at least one ovulation rate or litter size record greater than or equal to 3 produced two groups of daughters in approximately equal numbers: one group with many records greater than or equal to 3 and mean ovulation rate and litter size of 2.73 and 2.31, respectively, and one group with ovulation rates and litter sizes of 1 or 2 and corresponding means of 1.39 and 1.38. Dams with ovulation rate or litter size records of only 1 or 2 produced daughters in which over 90% had records of only 1 or 2. Estimated heritabilities for the mean of approximately three ovulation rate or litter size records from these daughter-dam comparisons exceeded .7. These results su...