Dorper sheep cross breeding with Indigenous sheep breed in Ethiopia

Abstract

The objective of this review paper was to review dorper sheep cross breeding with indigenous sheep breed in Ethiopia. The paper reviewed and discussed the history of dorper breed introduction, research and development efforts in crossbreeding and their performance under on-station and on-farm management. Formal survey on farmers perception on Dorper cross sheep indicated that the crossbred dorper sheep have non selective feed behavior and excellent in meat production under farmer`s management. On other study showed that dorper sheep was not meet farmer interest in breeding sheep aspect because of black coat color. The performance of indigenous sheep and their crosses with Dorper varied as per the location, management, farming conditions and percentage of exotic blood level inheritance. Different research output by team of researchers on farm and on station performance evaluation of dorper indicated that crossbreds often outperformed their local contemporaries. Under on farm condition, body weight at different ages was significantly higher in 50% Dorper crosses as compared to their 25% and75% counter parts.On station birth weight of Dorper (3.39 3.8 kg) better than crossbreed (3.0 3.24 ± 0.04 kg) and local sheep (2.36 2.77 kg), respectively.While the mean weaning weight (14 16 kg) and yearling weight (26.95 32.43 ± 0.46 kg) of 50% Dorper crossbreed was better than indigenous sheep breeds. However, crossbred ewes and local sheep breeds did not differ in litter size. Dorper crosses with Afar under on station is not economically important due to lower weight in all aspects. Crossbreeding programs of dorper with indigenous sheep require strong research and development support from public service and non-governmental institutions for sustainable design, optimization, and implementation in clearly defined production environments.