This study was undertaken to investigate the performance of native sheep in Bangladesh. Data were collected during 2004-2010 from sheep of the Barind, Jamuna and Coastal areas. The phenotypic characteristics did not differ significantly, but ears were shorter in Barind than in Jamuna and Coastal sheep. The coat colour was 45% white, 26% brown, 24% white brown and 3% black brown in Barind and Jamuna sheep, but white (70%) and white brown (30%) in Coastal sheep. Differences were not significant for age at first heat, age at first pregnancy and age at first lambing. Days open and post-partum ewe weight were significantly (P<0.01) different. Onset of post-partum heat, lambing interval, gestation length, number of services per pregnancy, litter size and placental weight did not differ significantly. Birth weight was significantly (P<0.05) higher in Coastal sheep than in Barind and Jamuna. Higher (P<0.05) wool yield was obtained in Coastal sheep and in the summer. Though the wool was coarse and hairy, wool from Coastal sheep had more (P<0.05) bends per inch, and was finer. Diarrhoea, pneumonia in lambs and skin diseases were the most common diseases in all sheep. Though sheep from the different areas had similar performance, better reproductive performance was obtained in the Barind sheep.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bvet.v28i2.10692Bangl. vet. 2011. Vol. 28, No. 2, 85 – 94

This experiment was undertaken to know the phenotypic characteristics of native sheep. The study was conducted to investigate morphometric characters of sheep in three different field sites (Naogaon, Noakhali and Tangail) and Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI) nucleus flock through close observation, measuring and record keeping. Characteristics of body weight, body length, heart girth, wither height, fore leg length, hind leg length, head length, ear length, ear width, horn length etc were collected from mature sheep. The results indicate that the average litter size, birth weight, weaning weight and body weight gain were comparatively higher in sheep of BLRI nucleus flock than those of other three regions. The average numbers of service/conception, post partum heat period (days), age at first heat (days), age at first lambing (days), lambing interval (days) were 1. 30, 34.13, 266.50, 432.72, 192.17 respectively in BLRI nucleus flock which were comparatively better than the other three regions. The average litter size, birth weight (kg), weaning weight (kg) and body weight gain (g) in nucleus flock were 1.80, 1.19, 6.74 and 60.70 consequently. The overall performance of the sheep of BLRI nucleus flock were comparatively better than the others which may be due to the result of selective breeding, improve feeding, housing, health management etc.

The growth rate, milk yield, milk composition and reproductive efficiency of Jamunapari goats were studied under semi-intensive conditions. Animals were allowed to graze for 6-7 hours and concentrate (17% CP, 11 MJ/kg DM) at 400g/head/day was offered twice daily. No body measurement was different in male and female goats. The udder was capacious but pendulous. Testis length, breadth and scrotal circumference were 17.3 ± 1.5, 11.5 ± 1.7 and 42.4 ± 2.0 cm, respectively. The mean body weight at birth and at 12 months was 1.6 and 21.4 kg, respectively. The average growth rates of male and female kids were 59.4 and 48.2g/day, respectively. The overall rate of weight gain was highest in second month and lowest in 11 th month. Highest milk yield was in second month and lowest in the fifth month after kidding. Lactation length was 135.4 ± 14.9 and 143.9 ± 13.2 days for does suckling one and two kids, respectively. Milk intake to growth ratio was 15.6 ± 0.2 and 12.5 ± 0.3 for the litter size of one and two, respectively. Highest milk fat, lactose and solids not fat (SNF) were in the later stage of lactation, whereas protein and minerals were similar throughout the lactation. The average age at first oestrus, age at first pregnancy and age at first kidding were 354.8 ± 17.1, 395.4 ± 29.6 and 548.6 ± 68.1 days, respectively. The average number of services per pregnancy was 1.4. The gestation length was 152.8 ± 17.6 days. The average body weight just after kidding and placenta weight were 26.7 kg and 342.4g, respectively. The overall litter size was 1.8 and 32.9, 58.2 and 8.9% of kidding produced single, twins and triplets, respectively. Sex ratio was 53.3 male to 46.7% female. Average onset of post-partum oestrus was 51 and interval from parturition to pregnancy 69.3 days. Production of Jamunapari goats was comparable with that of the Bengal goats. (Bangl. vet.

The study was conducted to evaluate the qualities of ram semen in different age groups (one to four years) were evaluated. The parameters included testes length (cm), testes breadth (cm), scrotal circumference (cm), live weight (kg), semen volume (ml), P H , sperm concentration (x10 9 ), motility (%), percentage of live, dead and normal, abnormal spermatozoa of native sheep. The average semen volume (ml) found to be 0.60, 0.91, 0.85 and 0.87; sperm concentration (10 9 /ml) 1. , sperm concentration, motility, viability, normal spermatozoa) were significant except testes breadth and scrotal circumference. The value of all of these parameters increased linearly up to three years with the increase of age except P H . The result of the present study indicated that scrotal diameter, serving capacity; normal and live spermatozoa were comparatively better during the 3 rd year than the 1 st and 2 nd year of age while the values were almost similar at 3 rd and 4 th year of age. With the increasing of age, the semen quality improved and stabilized up to at the age of 3 years.

The experiment was conducted with forty four pre-pubertal stages female lambs of 12.5±2.5 kg average live weight and 7.5±0.5 months of average age. Animals were equally and randomly allocated into two feeding groups, intensive and semi-intensive feeding systems with 22 animals in each group. Under intensive system, animals were fed concentrate mixture (15.0% crude protein (CP); 11 MJ metabolizable energy (ME)/kg dry matter (DM)) at the rate of 1.5% of live weight with ad libitum green grass from May to November and supplied urea molasses straw (UMS) in place of green grass from December to April. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in service per conception, litter size, lambing interval, gestation length, service period, birth weight and weaning weight between intensive and semi-intensive feeding system. Reproductive traits and productive traits were not affected by feeding system. Conception rate was higher (98.0%) in semi-intensive system than intensive system (83.0%). On the other hand lamb survivability was higher in intensive system than in semi-intensive system. The semi-intensive feeding system is found to be better to rear sheep for commercial purpose compared to intensive feeding system. Keywords: Feeding system; Productive; Reproductive; Native sheep. © 2011 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved. doi:10.3329/jsr.v3i3.7129                 J. Sci. Res. 3 (3), 692-698 (2011)