Genetic and phenotypic aspects of the body measured traits in merinolandschaf breed of sheep

Merinolandschaf sheep breed was used to estimate relationship between the next traits: Body weight of adult ewes (BW), Height to withers (HW), Body length (BL), Girth of Chest (GC), Rump Width (RW), Body weight of lambs at birth (BWB), Body weight of lambs at weaning (BWW). The collected data were from 750 sheep and their lambs during the period of three year. Estimates of means and standard errors for linear body measures and body weight of adult ewes and lambs, were obtained using the software program SPSS (2006). To estimate genetic and phenotypic correlations of observed traits, the ASREML program was used. Research has shown that genetic correlations between BW and all body measures of dams, ranging from 0.728 (BW-GC) to 0.976 (BW-HW). Genetic correlation between body measures of dams have also been positive and ranged in the interval from 0.873 (HW-GC) to 0.999 (BL-GC). Values for phenotypic correlations were lower compared with the genetic and the range varied from 0.183 (RW-BWB) to 0.421 (GC-BWW). The weaker phenotype correlations can be interpreted as play of more complex genetic and residual factors.