Effects of non-genetic factors on growth traits and survival rate in Karacabey Merino lambs.

This study was conducted with the aim of determining the growth characteristics and survival rate of Karacabey Merino lambs, as well as the non-genetic factors affecting these traits. The study included data from a total of 17659 lambs and 12263 ewes raised in 30 herds between the years 2011 and 2016 as part of the National Sheep and Goat Improvement Project. The average birth weight of the lambs was determined as 3.73±0.05 kg, the average 45th day live weight was 18.43±0.58 kg, the average weaning (average 91.8 days) weight was 31.83±0.24 kg, and the average daily live weight gain until weaning was 289.1±3.91 g. The average survival rate of lambs at weaning was calculated to be 95.67% ± 1.15. The effects of the factors herd, birth year, birth type, birth season and sex were found significant for all traits (p<0.01). It was established that the mortality rate in lambs in large herds was higher during 6 years in which the project was carried out. Due to the high twinning rate in large herds, the number of lambs per worker is increased, and as a result, they cannot be adequately cared for. For this reason, large farms may be encouraged to increase workmanship services in addition to being provided with protective health practices for lambs throughout the birth period. On the other hand, it was determined that the twinning rate was low in small farms. On farms with fewer sheep populations, it may be advised to flush or administer exogenous hormone treatments to ewes in order to increase fertility and help them bear twins.

Reproductive performance with short-time controlled internal drug release (CIDR)-based synchronization protocol for fixed-time artificial insemination in nulliparous and primiparous Saanen goats.

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the reproductive performance of primiparous and nulliparous Saanen goats following the insemination made cervically via frozen commercial buck semen with short-time controlled internal drug release (CIDR, Eazi-Breed, Pfizer)-based synchronization. In the study, a total of 50 Saanen goats, 26 of which were aged 9 months and 24 of which were aged 2 years, were used. The CIDRs including 0.33 g of progesterone were applied to all the goats for 7 days and while the CIDRs were taken out of the vagina, the 500 IU equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) was injected intramuscularly. The first dose was administered in a fixed-time manner with mini straws of 0.25 ml including 300x106 motile frozen spermatozoa 24 hours after the injection without making estrus detection, and the second dose insemination was applied 24 hours later. In the study, although the pregnancy rate, fecundity, prolificacy and multiple birth rate values (83%, 1.25, 1.50 and 60%) obtained in the primiparous goats were found to be higher than those found in the nulliparous age group (80%, 0.84, 1.05 and 38%), they were not statistically significant. It was concluded that the effects of the CIDR-based double-dose insemination applications in the primiparous and nulliparous Saanen breed goats in breeding season for 7 days on fertility were similar and the cervical insemination method, a quick and more practical option compared to the intrauterine insemination, could be used successfully in both age groups.