AbstractThe study aimed to assess the impact of FecB gene on litter size and productivity in Nilagiri Synthetic sheep. A total of 179 ewes were screened for the FecB mutation between January 2015 and October 2016, and the reproductive performance of 158 non-carrier (++) and 21 heterozygous carriers (B+) was compared. Results indicated that ewes with one copy of FecB gene showed significantly (P<0.05) higher litter sizes at birth, weaning and in lifetime as compared to non-carrier ewes. The average litter size at birth was 1.09±0.10 for non-carriers and 1.60±0.10 for carriers, while the corresponding values at weaning were 1.09±0.11 and 1.56±0.12, respectively. Heterozygous carrier ewes (B+) weaned an additional 0.47 lambs per ewe compared to non-carriers. Further, in a lifetime, heterozygous carriers produced 3.13 more lambs at birth and 3.04 at weaning compared to non-carriers. These findings suggest that FecB gene contributes positively to prolificacy and overall reproductive performance in Nilagiri Synthetic sheep.
Chaudhari et al. (Thu,) studied this question.