Yearling trait comparisons among inbred lines and selected noninbred and randomly bred control groups of Rambouillet, Targhee and Columbia ewes.

Inbreeding with concurrent selection was used to develop 26 Rambouillet, 20 Targhee and 10 Columbia inbred lines of sheep. Inbreeding coefficients averaged 30, 29 and 30% for the three breeds, respectively, at the conclusion of the study. A selected noninbred control group and a randomly bred unselected control group were maintained for each breed. Yearling traits were evaluated for 545 Rambouillet, 572 Targhee and 411 Columbia yearling ewes, each belonging to one of the inbred lines or control groups. In each breed, the selected controls were generally of greatest overall merit, the unselected controls intermediate and the inbred lines of least merit. Only a few yearling traits of only a few inbred lines were superior (P less than .05) to those of their appropriate selected control groups. Selection within inbred lines was generally ineffective in offsetting inbreeding depression. However, single trait selection for traits of high heritability, notably yearling weight, clean fleece weight and staple length, appeared to compensate for inbreeding effects on those traits. Deleterious consequences of inbreeding were particularly apparent in yearling weight, average daily gain, type and condition scores, grease and clean fleece weights and index of overall merit. Inbreeding also resulted in fewer neck folds among inbreds of all three breeds. Correlations between the rankings of inbred lines at weaning and yearling ages were high for traits of higher heritability. Superiority of the selected controls in most traits was of about the same magnitude at weaning and yearling ages. In no case did the final overall merit (index value) of an inbred line of any of the three breeds significantly exceed the overall merit of its respective selected control group.