Comparative Evaluation of On-Farm Growth Performance of Local Gamo Highland and Gamo X Bonga F1 Crossbred Sheep in Chencha District, South Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted to compare the on-farm growth performance of local Gamo highland and Gamo x Bonga first filial generation (F1) crossbred sheep in Chencha district. A total of 93 local Gamo highland and 125 Gamo x Bonga F1 crossbred sheep were used for data analysis. The study revealed that the overall mean growth performance of local Gamo highland sheep for birth, weaning, six-month, nine-month and yearling weights were 2.12±2.20, 8.84±1.38, 14.40±1.73, 19.17±0.99 and 22.95±1.20 kg, respectively. The corresponding parameters up to six-month weight for Gamo x BongaF1 crossbred were 2.77±0.65, 15.01±2.39 and 22.75±2.08 kg, respectively. Crossbred sheep performed better than local Gamo highland sheep at respective growth stages and attained early at six-month weight the yearling weight of local Gamo highland sheep’s market weight. Males showed higher values than females at all growth stages in general. The overall mean daily weight gain (g day-1) of pre and post-weaning for local Gamo highland sheep were 74.7±9.1 and 52.3±0.7, respectively. The corresponding values (g day-1) for Gamo x Bonga crossbred were 136.0±19.3 and 86.0±3.4, respectively. The growth rate of Gamo x BongaF1 crossbred sheep were faster at both pre and post-weaning than local Gamo highland sheep. Hence, it is possible to conclude that crossbreeding of local Gamo highland sheep has improved sheep productivity in the study area.