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Genotype-Environment Interaction in Sheep. II. Lamb Performance Traits

Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa and Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg 24061

Abstract

Ewes of two breed crosses, North Country Cheviot by grade Canadian Leicester (NC x L) and Hampshire by Hampshire-Rambouillet (H x HR), were compared through five lamb crops at two locations, Glade Spring, Virginia, U.S.A., and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Significant ewe breed cross x location interactions were evident for birth weight and adjusted 120-day weight, but not for average daily gain (ADG) from birth to weaning. Lambs from the H x HR ewes graded higher alive at slaughter weights in Virginia than those from NC x L ewes, but in Ottawa lambs from NC x L ewes were higher in carcass grade. The breed x location interaction effects were fairly small in magnitude and of no great importance in terms of commercial production. However, when the differential response in lamb performance traits are added to the much more important differences in ewe productivity previously reported, it was concluded that local adaptation of ewe breeds or breed crosses is of considerable importance with respect to total production.

¹ Department of Animal Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

² Information Division. Canada Department of Agriculture.

³ Southwest Virginia Research Station, Glade Spring.

⁴ Animal Research Institute, Canada Department of Agriculture.

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