The Awassi sire can be used to crossbred with low-productive Tikur local ewes to produce export-marketable weight at yearling under farmer's management in the Ethiopian highlands

Variable	n	BW ± SE	S	n	BWT 90 ± SE	n	BWT180 ± SE	n	BWT270 ± SE	n	BWT360 ± SE
Overall	2,069	3.10 ± 0.01		785	13.04 ± 0.07	809	16.95 ± 0.08	692	20.84 ± 0.11	642	24.42 ± 0.14
Year of birth		*			ns		*		***		***
2007	203	3.09 ± 0.05^b		4	12.84 ± 1.14	7	17.62 ± 0.96^ab	6	19.63 ± 1.27^b	31	21.18 ± 0.81^c
2008	610	3.17 ± 0.04^ab		148	12.81 ± 0.28	184	16.92 ± 0.34^ab	176	20.09 ± 0.47^b	162	24.70 ± 0.57^b
2009	814	3.21 ± 0.04^a		467	12.58 ± 0.30	498	16.53 ± 0.31^b	431	20.17 ± 0.45^b	392	25.24 ± 0.52^b
2010	367	3.15 ± 0.04^ab		98	12.54 ± 0.30	84	17.43 ± 0.41^a	48	23.28 ± 0.62^a	40	31.82 ± 0.85^a
2011	75	3.08 ± 0.07^b		68	12.47 ± 0.31	36	16.88 ± 0.69^ab	31	22.98 ± 0.99^a	17	28.91 ± 1.47^a
Villages		***			***		***		***		***
Mariam	254	3.18 ± 0.05^b		72	11.13 ± 0.44^c	79	15.38 ± 0.49^c	75	19.39 ± 0.65^c	68	23.86 ± 0.71^c
Mikael	602	3.35 ± 0.04^a		138	13.53 ± 0.33^b	163	18.24 ± 0.37^b	146	22.54 ± 0.51^b	148	28.29 ± 0.52^b
Geiorgis	654	2.79 ± 0.04^c		155	14.89 ± 0.35^a	187	21.28 ± 0.39^a	186	27.28 ± 0.53^a	177	33.27 ± 0.57^a
^{a, b,c,d} Means bearing different superscript in a column differ significantly (P < 0.05). * P < 0.05, P < 0.01, * P < 0.001, LSM = least square mean, BW = birth weight, BWT90 = body weight at 90 d, BWT180 = body weight at 180 d, BWT270 = body weight at 270 d, BWT360 = body weight at 360 d and SE = standard error.

Table 1.

Body weight (LSM ± SE) of Awassi-Tikur crossbred sheep based on location and year of birth.

Variable	n	BW ± SE	n	BWT90 ± SE	n	BWT180 ± SE	n	BWT360 ± SE
Overall		ns		ns		ns		ns
Overall	50	1.81 ± 0.06	48	7.58 ± 0.19	44	10.37 ± 0.23	11	13.87 ± 0.30
Sex		ns		ns		ns		ns
Female	29	1.87 ± 0.08	27	7.75 ± 0.26	23	10.29 ± 0.32	5	13.92 ± 0.45
Male	21	1.72 ± 0.09	21	7.35 ± 0.29	21	10.46 ± 0.33	6	13.83 ± 0.41
CV		23.22		17.62		14.61		7.19
LSM = least square means, ns = non-significant at P < 0.05, BW = birth weight, BWT90 = body weight at 90 d, BWT180 = body weight at 180 d, BWT270 = body weight at 270 d, BWT360 = body weight at 360 d and SE = standard error.

Table 2.

Body weight (LSM ± SE) of local Tikur sheep in Wadla district.

Variable	n	ADG1 ± SE	n	ADG2 ± SE	n	ADG 3 ± SE	n	ADG 4 ± SE
Overall		***		***		***		***
Overall	542	102.44 ± 0.76	675	37.56 ± 0.60	613	34.95 ± 0.67	523	36.94 ± 0.68
Year of birth		**		***		***		***
2007	3	91.30 ± 11.22^abc	4	56.88 ± 9.49^ab	5	34.40 ± 8.19^b	3	24.05 ± 9.90^bc
2008	75	94.50 ± 3.31^c	140	45.55 ± 2.68^b	160	31.37 ± 3.21^b	136	36.89 ± 2.95^c
2009	311	100.18 ± 2.67^b	437	46.02 ± 2.42^b	393	33.11 ± 3.10^b	353	42.07 ± 2.69^b
2010	93	105.56 ± 3.09^a	60	56.22 ± 3.25^a	28	50.97 ± 4.46^a	17	60.16 ± 5.11^a
2011	60	103.09 ± 3.28^ab	34	33.39 ± 4.83^c	27	60.14 ± 5.89^a	14	50.21 ± 6.86^abc
Villages		***		***		***		***
Mariam	71	85.98 ± 4.48^c	72	49.85 ± 3.77^b	73	42.78 ± 4.07^b	64	44.92 ± 3.82^c
Mikael	117	107.98 ± 3.46^b	130	56.56 ± 2.94^a	123	44.60 ± 3.36^b	92	52.95 ± 3.17^b
Giorgis	121	119.08 ± 3.69^a	130	59.26 ± 6.10^a	123	62.46 ± 3.47^a	92	60.28 ± 3.33^a
Season		ns		ns		ns		ns
Dry	294	99.28 ± 3.61	459	44.06 ± 2.92	439	42.51 ± 3.51	385	39.31 ± 3.40
Wet	248	98.57 ± 4.46	216	51.17 ± 4.08	174	41.49 ± 4.30	138	46.04 ± 4.73
^{a, b,c,d} Means bearing different superscript in a column differ significantly (P < 0.05). * P < 0.05, P < 0.01, * P < 0.001, ADG 1 = ADG between (birth weight) and (body weight at 90 d), ADG 2 = ADG between (body weight at 90 d) and (body weight at 180 d), ADG 3 = ADG between (body weight at 180 d) and (body weight at 270 d), ADG 4 = ADG between (body weight at 270 d) and (body weight at 360 d) and SE = standard error.

Table 3.

Average daily gain (g/d) of Awassi-Tikur crossbred sheep based on year of birth, location, and season.

Variable	n	BW ± SE	n	BWT90 ± SE	n	BWT180 ± SE	n	BWT270 ± SE	n	BWT360 ± SE
Season		**		ns		ns		ns		ns
Dry	1,209	3.19 ± 0.04^a	497	12.99 ± 0.32	533	16.90 ± 0.39	489	21.55 ± 0.54	466	26.71 ± 0.51
Wet	860	3.09 ± 0.09^b	288	12.30 ± 0.46	276	17.25 ± 0.45	203	20.91 ± 0.65	176	26.03 ± 0.74
Sex		ns		ns		ns		ns		ns
Female	1,021	3.15 ± 0.05	410	12.75 ± 0.34	437	17.20 ± 0.39	377	20.90 ± 0.56	350	26.22 ± 0.54
Male	1,048	3.13 ± 0.06	375	12.55 ± 0.41	372	16.95 ± 0.48	315	21.56 ± 0.70	292	26.51 ± 0.80
Awassi Blood		ns		***		*		***		***
23.44%	548	3.10 ± 0.03	105	12.01 ± 0.32^bc	123	16.05 ± 0.35^b	116	19.67 ± 0.47^c	119	24.16 ± 0.54^c
28.00%	69	3.05 ± 0.06	23	11.26 ± 0.48^c	24	17.05 ± 0.56^ab	23	22.62 ± 0.72^a	20	25.99 ± 0.92^b
32.50%	1,414	3.08 ± 0.02	638	12.56 ± 0.25^b	644	17.26 ± 0.27^a	540	21.74 ± 0.37^ab	494	25.65 ± 0.45^b
44.24%	21	3.08 ± 0.11	9	12.96 ± 0.75^ab	9	17.78 ± 0.93^ab	5	19.13 ± 1.40^bc	--	---
48.75%	17	3.39 ± 0.12	10	14.46 ± 0.72^a	9	17.23 ± 0.89^ab	8	22.99 ± 1.28^a	9	29.68 ± 1.55^a
CV		15.86		14.68		13.97		13.92		14.32
^{a, b,c}Means bearing different superscript in a column differ significantly (P < 0.05). * P < 0.05, P < 0.01, * P < 0.001, LSM = least square mean, BW = birth weight, BWT90 = body weight at 90 d, BWT180 = body weight at 180 d, BWT270 = body weight at 270 d, BWT360 = body weight at 360 d and SE = standard error.

Table 4.

Body weight (LSM ± SE) of Awassi-Tikur crossbred sheep based on season, sex and exotic blood level.

Variable		n	BW ± SE	n	BWT90 ± SE	n	BWT180 ± SE	n	BWT270 ± SE	n	BWT360 ± SE
Year of birth	Birth season		**		ns		***		*		ns
2007	Dry	116	3.18 ± 0.06^b	3	13.51 ± 1.15	3	15.96 ± 1.41^ab	3	19.32 ± 1.75^bcd	16	22.07 ± 1.03
2007	Wet	87	3.01 ± 0.06^c	1	12.16 ± 1.95	4	19.27 ± 1.23^a	3	19.94 ± 1.74^bcd	15	20.27 ± 1.03
2008	Dry	383	3.16 ± 0.05^b	99	12.64 ± 0.30	111	16.37 ± 0.37^b	108	19.67 ± 0.51^d	110	24.05 ± 0.58
2008	Wet	227	3.18 ± 0.05^b	49	12.99 ± 0.36	73	17.47 ± 0.40^ab	68	20.50 ± 0.55^cd	52	25.35 ± 0.70
2009	Dry	447	3.29 ± 0.04^a	296	12.83 ± 0.25	326	16.68 ± 0.32^b	318	19.83 ± 0.45^d	293	25.08 ± 0.52
2009	Wet	367	3.14 ± 0.04^b	171	12.33 ± 0.28	172	16.39 ± 0.35^b	113	20.50 ± 0.52^c	99	26.41 ± 0.60
2010	Dry	218	3.15 ± 0.05^b	56	12.81 ± 0.34	61	17.77 ± 0.41^ab	32	24.24 ± 0.66^a	32	31.91 ± 0.77
2010	Wet	149	3.15 ± 0.05^b	42	12.28 ± 0.38	23	17.08 ± 0.58^b	16	22.32 ± 0.85^b	8	31.73 ± 1.35
2011	Dry	45	3.17 ± 0.08^abc	43	13.20 ± 0.36	32	17.73 ± 0.50^ab	28	24.67 ± 0.68^a	15	30.44 ± 1.06
2011	Wet	30	2.98 ± 0.10^c	25	11.75 ± 0.45	4	16.03 ± 1.24^b	3	21.30 ± 1.77^abcd	2	27.39 ± 2.60
CV			16.45		14.94		13.72		13.83		14.32
^{a, b,c,d} Means bearing different superscript in a column differ significantly (P < 0.05). * P < 0.05, P < 0.01, * P < 0.001, LSM = least square mean, BW = birth weight, BWT90 = body weight at 90 d of age, BWT180 = body weight at 180 d of age, BWT270 = body weight at 270 d of age, BWT360 = body weight at 360 d of age and SE = standard error.

Table 5.

Two-way table for the interaction between year of birth and season of birth of Awassi-Tikur crossbred sheep.

Variable	n	ADG1 ± SE	n	ADG2 ± SE	n	ADG 3 ± SE	n	ADG 4 ± SE
Sex		ns		ns		ns		ns
Female	284	97.79 ± 3.89	358	49.41 ± 3.11	329	41.43 ± 3.49	279	39.18 ± 3.59
Male	258	100.07 ± 4.18	317	45.82 ± 3.56	284	42.57 ± 4.84	244	46.18 ± 4.18
Awassi blood		ns		***		***		*
23.44%	97	95.80 ± 3.20	103	38.26 ± 2.95^c	112	39.84 ± 2.98^c	97	37.79 ± 3.41^b
28.00%	21	91.31 ± 4.64	22	61.01 ± 4.21^a	19	57.94 ± 4.55^a	15	34.34 ± 5.11^b
32.50%	411	98.99 ± 2.55	534	48.02 ± 2.33^b	471	46.86 ± 2.42^b	405	42.22 ± 2.98^ab
44.24%	9	109.59 ± 7.03	9	57.06 ± 6.36^ab	5	25.06 ± 8.14^c
48.75%	4	98.94 ± 9.27	7	33.71 ± 6.53^c	6	40.29 ± 9.84^abc	6	56.35 ± 7.73^a
CV		17.18		41.78		47.48		41.91
^{a, b,c,d} Means bearing different superscript in a row differ significantly (P < 0.05). * P < 0.05, P < 0.01, * P < 0.001, ADG 1 = ADG between (birth weight) and (body weight at 90 d), ADG 2 = ADG between (body weight at 90 d) and (body weight at 180 d, ADG 3 = ADG between (body weight at 180 d) and (body weight at 270 d), ADG 4 = ADG between (body weight at 270 d) and (body weight at 360 d) and SE = standard error.

Table 6.

Average daily gain (g/d) of Awassi-Tikur crossbred sheep based on sex, and Awassi blood level.