Abstract:
Group of animal consist of 300 Awassi ewes, 32 rams and 322 offspring were
typed for blood potassium and hemoglobin, HK gene frequencies for ewes, rams,
and lambs were of the order of 0.89, 0.93 and 0.88, respectively; for the HbB gene
the corresponding frequencies were related 0.98, 1.00 and 0.99, respectively.
B HK (High potassium, Hb type B) ewes showed a significantly higher lambing
percentage, fleece weight, fiber diameter, fleece wax percentage and alkali
solubility percentage, 98.5%, 20kg, 29.6μ, 2.2% and 7.6% corresponding with
related 95.5%, 1.8kg, 28.6μ, 1.8% and 7.1% of B LK type respectively.
B LK (Low potassium, Hb type B) ewes produced significantly more female
lambs while B LK lambs, compared with B HK ones, had significantly higher birth
and weaning weights. The association between B HK types and fitness was
proposed as the explanation of the high gene frequency of this type.