Shen Yumeng, Xu Zhan, Liu Guiqiong, Jiang Xunping, Wang Xu, Li Jihua, Sun Ling, Chen Yan, Yang Shiping, Yang Han
Laboratory of Small Ruminant Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People's Republic of China.
Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of the Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430070, People's Republic of China.
Trop Anim Health Prod. 2025 Jan 30;57(2):43. doi: 10.1007/s11250-025-04296-9.
Growth traits are one of the focuses of sheep breeding, and growth curve is an effective method to describe growth traits. The body weight of Yiling sheep at 0, 120, 180, 360 and 540 days of age were fitted with five common nonlinear growth models: Logistic, Gompertz, Von Bertalanffy, Brody and Negative exponential, and the growth models were evaluated by goodness of fit standard. The results showed that the Von Bertalanffy model was suitable for characterizing the growth of Yiling sheep. The estimated values of parameters A(mature weight), B(scale parameter related to the initial body weight) and K(maturity rate) in Von Bertalanffy model were 82.88 ± 7.47, 0.64 ± 0.05 and 0.0048 ± 0.0010, respectively. The parameters of the growth curve of the Von Bertalanffy model were further utilized to estimate the inflection point body weight of Yiling sheep as 24.56 kg, and the inflection point age was 135 days old. The absolute growth rate(AGR) first increased and then decreased, reaching the maximum value of 0.1766 kg/day at 135 days of age. The relative growth rate (RGR) of Yiling sheep decreased with age. The mature weight of Yiling sheep was the closest to that of common meat breeds. The Least squares estimation showed that sex had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on the growth curve parameters of Yiling sheep, with rams having a greater mature weight than ewes, while ewes had a higher maturity rate. The heritability estimates of parameters A, B and K were 0.09, 0.04 and 0.01, respectively, and the negative correlation between A and K indicated that lower maturity rate could be selected to increase mature weight.
生长性状是绵羊育种的重点之一，而生长曲线是描述生长性状的有效方法。对夷陵羊0、120、180、360和540日龄时的体重进行了5种常见非线性生长模型拟合，分别为Logistic模型、Gompertz模型、Von Bertalanffy模型、Brody模型和负指数模型，并通过拟合优度标准对生长模型进行评估。结果表明，Von Bertalanffy模型适合表征夷陵羊的生长情况。Von Bertalanffy模型中参数A（成熟体重）、B（与初始体重相关的尺度参数）和K（成熟率）的估计值分别为82.88±7.47、0.64±0.05和0.0048±0.0010。进一步利用Von Bertalanffy模型生长曲线的参数估计夷陵羊拐点体重为24.56 kg，拐点年龄为135日龄。绝对生长率（AGR）先升高后降低，在135日龄时达到最大值0.1766 kg/天。夷陵羊的相对生长率（RGR）随年龄增长而下降。夷陵羊的成熟体重与常见肉用品种最为接近。最小二乘估计表明，性别对夷陵羊生长曲线参数有显著（p＜0.05）影响，公羊的成熟体重比母羊大，而母羊的成熟率更高。参数A、B和K的遗传力估计值分别为0.09、0.04和0.01，A与K之间的负相关表明可以选择较低的成熟率来增加成熟体重。
