Comparative study to estimate the productive performance of different sheep breeds of Balochistan in semi intensive conditions

The objective of the study was to explore the productive performance of the different breeds of sheep prevailing in different parts of the Balochistan province. Two hundred and forty (240) ram lambs of five different breeds were divided into 5 groups of 48 animals of same breed in each group used in the experiment. The animals were fed wheat straw ad libitum, green Barseem @ 3 kg/day/head and a commercial concentrate ration @ 0.20, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40 and 0.50 kg/day/head for five months period respectively. There was significant differences in total weight gain and average daily gain of breeds (P<0.05). The results of the present study revealed that, weight gain of the Mengali and Balochi are significantly higher than other breeds (P<0.05), while non significant (P>0.05) between each other as well as Rakhshani and Harnai. Lowest weight gain was observed in Beverigh sheep. Biometric parameters of height, length and girth was observed significantly different among breeds (P<0.05). Consistent growth performance was found in Mengali and Balochi as compare to others breeds. Variations in productive and biometric performance were due to genetic potential of breeds and environmental factors.