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The Iranian fat—tailed sheep breeds Baluchi,Moghani,Shal,and Afshari ware
compared under intensive management conditions with regard to the capacity of growth
and faittening,and to different carcass traits. Following results were obtained:
1— No significant difference was found in birth weigh,weaning weight (100 days of age) and 7—months of age weight between Shal,Moghani and Afshari,but all those breeds with regard to the above traits were significantly heavier than Baluchi.
(P <(0.001).
2— Both Afshari and Moghani showed the highest final weight (fattening period from
210 to 300 days of age),followed by Shal and Baluchi.(P<0.001),
3— The average daily gain of Afshari and Moghani was significantly higher than that of the both other breeds, (P cçt.0o1),
4— Regarding to the feed conversion3Afshari and Baluchi were the best and the worst investigated breeds respectively,while Moghani and Shal laid on the 2nd and 3rd places.
5— Afshari had the longest and heaviest and Baluchi the shortest and lightest carcass.Both other breeds regarding to those traits laid between them,(P4.001).
6— The carcass dressing percentage,the percentage of the fat,and the high and low value carcass cuts of the investigated breeds were not significantly different.