GENETIC IMPROVEMENT IN PRODUCTION TRAITS OF MUZAFFARNAGARI SHEEP THROUGH SELECTIVE BREEDING

Muzaffarnagari, the heaviest sheep breed of the country, is distributed in Muzaffarnagar and its adjoining districts of Western Uttar Pradesh viz. Meerut, Bulandshahar, Saharanpur and Bijnor.Muzaffarnagari is one of the heaviest among 42 sheep breeds found in India. The breed is reared purely for mutton production as wool production is low with course quality, thus not suitable for carpet manufacture. Data on 874 Muzaffarnagari lambs born during 2008-2012 at Central Institute for Research on Goats, Makhdoom, Farah, Mathura were recorded to study the impact of selective breeding on various production traits viz. body weights at birth, 3, 6 and 12 month age and greasy fleece weights of lambs and adults. The overall least squares means for body weights of lambs at birth, 3, 6 and 12 months age were 3.65±0.02, 15.22±0.12, 21.77±0.77 and 30.33±0.19 kg and greasy fleece weights of lambs first and second clip and adult annual were 491.16±5.91, 515.64±6.79 and 1176.46±12.58g, respectively. Sex and year of lambing had highly significant (P