THE EFFECT OF BODY WEIGHT AT ATTAINMENT OF PUBERTY ON CARCASS QUALITY AND OVARIAN FOLLICLES ENHANCEMENT IN LOCAL AWASSI EWE LAMBS

Abstract

The object of this study was to assess the body weight (BW) of 15 local Awassi ewe lambs, 5 high (HBW), 5 medium (MBW), and 5 Low (LBW), on attainment of puberty (AP), enhancement of ovarian activity and carcass quality. All ewe lambs were slaughtered at 242 days (at 60% adult weight of Awassi ewes) The differences of BW on AP lacked of significance. There are numeric increase in ovarian and Graffian follicles at HBW as compared with other two groups. Significant effect (P<0.05) of HBW two groups. Significant effect (P<0.05) of HBW on chilled carcass weight. Dressing percentage and spleen weight. The correlation coefficient between Graffian follicles and Corpus Latium was highly significant (r=0.875) The correlation between BW and chilled carcass weight, dressing percentage and spleen weight also significant weight.