Authors : Muhammad Zubair , Gulam Habib and Nazir Ahmad
Abstract: An experiment in 23 factorial design involving two pasture locations, two sheep breeds and two age groups of sheep was conducted over 99 days during June to September, 2003. A total of 107 ewes (2 to 5 years age) and 79 lambs (one year age) of Rambouillet and Ramghani (F1, KaghanixRambouillet) were randomly divided in two groups. One group of 42 adult ewes and 21 lambs were kept at the Livestock Research Station (LRS) Jaba and the remaining ewes and lambs were shifted to Lalazar alpine pasture in Kaghan valley. The animals at the LRS Jaba were grazed on the station pasture and received a commercial concentrate 500 g/day/head while those at the alpine pasture did not receive any supplement and entirely subsisted on grazing. Nutritive value of alpine pasture was higher than that of LRS Jaba. Crude protein was 22.9 and 13.44% in DM, mineral matter (ash) was 14.32 and 8.2% in DM and in vitro DM digestibility was 52.81 and 45.47%, in herbage samples collected at monthly intervals from alpine and LRS Jaba pastures, respectively. The difference between the two locations was highly significant (p<0.001) for all the above parameters. The in vitro DM digestibility was positively correlated with crude protein (R2 = 0.72) and ash (R2 = 0.56) contents in the pastures. Midside wool yield and wool quality were significantly affected by locations (p<0.001) and age (p<0.001) of the grazing sheep. Midside clean wool yield was higher (p<0.001) in sheep at alpine than LRS Jaba and averaged 11.29 and 9.7 g/96cm2, respectively. Both staple length and bulk of wool varied due to locations (P<0.001) and age of the animals (P<0.001). Mean staple length was 2.07 and 2.37 cm and bulk of wool was 11.27 and 12.82 cm3/g, at LRS Jaba and alpine pastures, respectively. Across the two locations and breeds, staple length (cm) and bulk of wool (cm3/g) averaged 2.31, 12.95 and 2.20, 11.41 in adult ewes and lambs, respectively.
Muhammad Zubair , Gulam Habib and Nazir Ahmad , 2006. Comparative Study on Wool Yield and Wool Quality in Sheep Reared at Livestock Reach Station Jaba and Lalazar Alpine Pasture. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 5: 641-646.