Effect of management systems on growth and conformation of male lambs of Kachhi and Kooka sheep

A study was carried out on 12 male lambs under two management systems at the Department of Livestock Management. Six lambs from each breed were reared under intensive (A) and semi-intensive (B) management systems. The Kooka lambs comparatively gained more body weight per week (4.84±0.27% and 3.25±0.09%, respectively) than Kachhi lambs (4.03±0.12% and 2.61±0.21%, respectively) of group B and A, respectively. The average per week increase in body weight of lambs in group B was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of group A. The average body weight of Kooka and Kachhi lambs of group B was significantly (P<0.05) higher than Kachhi and Kooka lambs of group A. Per week increase in body conformation in respect of height, girth and length (1.55±0.08%, 1.32±0.04% and 1.82±0.01%, respectively) of Kooka and Kachhi (1.00±0.03%, 1.06±0.02% and 1.54±0.06%, respectively) lambs of group B was comparatively higher (P<0.05) than Kooka (0.97±0.07%, 0.86±0.03% and 1.37±0.07%, respectively) and Kachhi (0.77±0.04%, 0.68±0.07% and 0.96±0.02%, respectively) lambs in group A. The overall mean height, girth and length of male Kooka lambs of group B were significantly (P<0.05) higher than Kachhi lambs of group A and group B but relatively similar to that of Kooka lambs in group A. Result concludes that, the male Kooka lambs gained more body weight and body conformation than that of male Kachhi lambs under both management systems (intensive and semiintensive management system).