Abstract
The study of growth curves in sheep is an effective approach to monitor the animal development for predicting the growth rate and improving overall flock performance. The purpose of the present work was to study the growth curve traits of Munjal sheep using different non-linear models and to estimate the genetic parameters of those traits for the possibility of inclusion of them under selection strategy. Total 2285 weight records at birth, 3, 6 and 12 months of age of 706 lambs born to 48 sires and 149 dams were collected from the registers maintained from 2004 to 2019. Various non-linear growth models viz., Brody, Gompertz, logistic, Bertalanffy and negative exponential were fitted to targeted growth curve traits and then evaluated using goodness of fit criteria such as adjusted R2, root means square error (RMSE), Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). The genetic parameters of growth curve traits were estimated using animal model. The results suggested that Brody model was best fitted to the data than other models. The growth curve estimates for mature weight (A), inflexion point (B) and rate of maturation (k) under Brody model were 25.82 ± 1.72, 0.84 ± 0.04, and 0.21 ± 0.04, respectively for female lambs, and 29.55 ± 2.04, 0.86 ± 0.03 and 0.19 ± 0.04, respectively for male lambs. The males showed superiority for mature weights whereas female lambs had higher maturation rates. The estimates of direct heritability for A, B and k were 0.33, 0.41 and 0.10, respectively. The moderate estimate of direct heritability of A and its negative genetic correlation with k indicated the scope of genetic improvement through selection based on mature weights. Therefore, it was concluded from the present findings that Brody model was the one that best describes the growth curve in the Munjal sheep and the selection based on mature weights can be employed for genetic improvement of Munjal flock.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data will be made available on the request.
References
Abegaz, S., van Wyk, J. B., Olivier, J. J., 2010. Estimation of genetic and phenotypic parameters of growth curve and their relationship with early growth and productivity in Horro sheep. Archiv Tierzucht 53, 85–94.
Bahreini Behzadi, M. R., Aslaminejad, A. A., Sharifi, A. R., Simianer, H., 2014. Comparison of mathematical models for describing the growth of Baluchi sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 16, 57–68.
Bangar, Y.C., Lawar, V.S., Nimase, R.G., Nimbalkar, C.A., 2018. Comparison of Non-linear Growth Models to Describe the Growth Behaviour of Deccani Sheep. Agricultural Research, 7, 490-494.
Bangar, Y. C., Magotra, A., Yadav, A. S., 2020. Estimates of covariance components and genetic parameters for growth, average daily gain and Kleiber ratio in Harnali sheep. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 52(5), 2291–2296.
Bangar, Y.C., Magotra, A., Malik, B.S., Malik, Z.S., 2021. Evaluation of growth curve traits and associated genetic parameters in Harnali sheep. Small Ruminant Research 195, 106314.
Bathaei, S. S., Leroy, P. L., 1998. Genetic and phenotypic aspects of the growth curve characteristics in Mehraban Iranian fat-tailed sheep. Small Ruminant Research, 29, 261–269.
Bertalanffy, L., 1957. Quantitative laws in metabolism and growth. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 32(3), 217–231.
Boujenane, I., 2022. Comparison of nonlinear models for describing the pre-weaning growth of Timahdite lambs and genetic and non-genetic effects for curve parameters. Small Ruminant Research, 216, 106800.
Brody, S., 1945. Bioenergetics and growth New York (NY): Reinhold
Brown, J. E., Fitzhugh, H. A. Jr., Cartwright, T. C., 1976. A comparison of nonlinear models for describing weight–age relationships in cattle. Journal of Animal Science, 42, 810–818.
Brunner, N., Kühleitner, M., 2020. The growth of domestic goats and sheep: A meta study with Bertalanffy-Pütter models. Veterinary and Animal Science, 10, 100135.
da Silva, L. S. A., Fraga, A. B., da Silva, F. D. L., Beelen, P. M. G., Silva, R. M. D. O., Tonhati, H., Barros, C. D. C., 2012. Growth curve in Santa Ines sheep. Small Ruminant Research, 105, 182–185.
Gaur, P., Malik, Z. S., Bangar, Y. C., Magotra, A., Chauhan, A., Yadav, D. K., 2022. Influence of maternal and additive genetic effects on lamb survival in Harnali sheep. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics, 139(2), 204–214.
Gbangboche, A. B., Gleke-Kalai, R., Albuquerque, L. G., Leroy, P., 2008. Comparison of nonlinear growth models to describe the growth curve in West African Dwarf sheep. Animal, 2, 1003–1012.
Hojjati, F., Hossein-Zadeh, N. G., 2018. Comparison of non-linear growth models to describe the growth curve of Mehraban sheep. Journal of Applied Animal Research, 46(1), 499–504.
Hossein-Zadeh, N. G. 2017. Modelling growth curve in Moghani sheep: comparison of non-linear mixed growth models and estimation of genetic relationship between growth curve parameters. Journal of Agricultural Science, 155, 1150–1159.
Hossein-Zadeh, N. G., 2015a. Modeling the growth curve of Iranian Shall sheep using non-linear growth models. Small Ruminant Research, 130, 60–66.
Hossein-Zadeh, N. G., 2015b. Estimation of genetic relationships between growth curve parameters in Guilan sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 57, 19.
IBM Corp 2011. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
Iqbal, F., Waheed, A., Huma, Z., Faraz, A., 2019. Nonlinear Growth Functions for Body Weight of Thalli Sheep using Bayesian Inference. Pakistan Journal of Zoology, 1(4), 1421-1428.
Jeet, V., Magotra, A., Bangar, Y. C., Kumar, S., Garg, A. R., Yadav, A. S., Bahurupi, P., 2022. Evaluation of candidate point mutation of Kisspeptin 1 gene associated with litter size in Indian Goat breeds and its effect on transcription factor binding sites, Domestic Animal Endocrinology, 78, 106676.
Laird, A. K., 1965. Dynamics of relative growth. Growth, 29, 249–263
Lambe, N. R., Navajas, E. A., Simm, G., Bünger, L., 2006. A genetic investigation of various growth models to describe growth of lambs of two contrasting breeds. Journal of Animal Science, 84, 2642-2654.
Lupi, T. M., Leon, J. M., Nogales, S., Barba, C., Delgado, J. V., 2016. Genetic parameters of traits associated with the growth curve in Segurena sheep. Animal, 10, 729–735.
Lupi, T. M., Nogales, S., Leon, J. M., Barba, C., Delgado, J. V., 2015. Characterization of commercial and biological growth curves in the Segureña sheep breed. Animal, 9, 1341–1348.
Ma, B. Y., Raza, S. H. A., Hou, S., Wang, Z., Gao, Z. H., Almohaimeed, H. M., Alotaibi, S. A., Alhudaithy, A., Assiri, R., Gui, L. S., 2023. RNA-Seq revealed the effect of adding different proportions of wheat diet on fat metabolism of Tibetan lamb, Gene, 851, 147031.
Ma, B., Khan, R., Raza, S. H. A., Gao, Z., Hou, S., Ullah, F., Hassan, M. M., Hassan, M. M., AlGabbani, Q., Alotaibi, M. A., Shah, M. A., Gui, L., 2021. Determination of the relationship between class IV sirtuin genes and growth traits in Chinese black Tibetan sheep, Animal biotechnology, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495398.2021.2016434
Magotra, A., Bangar, Y.C., Yadav, A.S., 2021a. Growth curve modeling and genetic analysis of growth curve traits in Beetal goat. Small Ruminant Research, 195, 106300.
Magotra, A., Bangar, Y.C., Chauhan, A., Yadav, A.S., Malik, Z.S., 2021b. Impact of mother genetic and resource environment on her offspring's growth features in Munjal sheep. Zygote, 30(4), 495–500.
Malhado, C. H. M., Carneiroa, P. L. S., Affonso, P. R. A. M., Souza, Jr A. A. O., Sarmento, J. L. R., 2009. Growth curves in Dorper sheep crossed with the local Brazilian breeds, Morada Nova, Rabo Largo, and Santa Ines. Small Ruminant Research, 84, 16–21.
Meyer, K., 2006. WOMBAT – Digging deep for quantitative genetic analyses by restricted maximum likelihood. Proc. 8th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production. Communication. 27, 4.
Mohammadi, Y., Mokhtari, M.S., Saghi, D.A., Shahdadi, A.R., 2019. Modeling the growth curve in Kordi sheep: The comparison of non-linear models and estimation of genetic parameters for the growth curve traits. Small Ruminant Research, 177, 117-123.
Mokhtari, M. S., Borzi, N. K., Fozi, M. A., Behzadi, M., 2019. Evaluation of non-linear models for genetic parameters estimation of growth curve traits in Kermani sheep. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 51(8), 2203–2212.
Nelder, J. A., 1961. The fitting of a generalization of the logistic curve. Biometrics, 17, 89–110.
Nimase, R., Bangar, Y., Nimbalkar, C., Shinde, O., Lawar, V., 2017. Genetic Parameter Estimates for Growth Curve Characteristics of Deccani Sheep. International Journal of Livestock Research, 7(5), 79-86.
Saghi, D.A., Aslaminejad, A. A., Tahmoorespur, M., Frahangfar, N. M., Dashab, G., 2012. Estimation of genetic parameters for growth traits in Baluchi sheep using Gompertz growth curve function. Indian Journal of Animal Science, 82 (8), 889–892.
Salles, T., Beijo, L.A., Nogueira, D.A., Almeida, G.C., Martins, T.B., Gomes, V.S., 2020. Modelling the growth curve of Santa Ines sheep using Bayesian approach. Livestock Science, 239, 104115.
Sharif, N., Ali, A., Mohsin, I., Ahmad, N., 2021. Evaluation of nonlinear models to define growth curve in Lohi sheep. Small Ruminant Research, 205, 106564.
Topal, M., Ozdemir, M., Aksakal, V., Yildiz, N., Dogru, U., 2004. Determination of the best nonlinear function in order to estimate growth in Morkaraman and Awassi lambs. Small Ruminant Research, 55, 229-232.
Zhang, X., Han, L., Hou, S., Raza, S.H., Wang, Z., Yang, B., Sun, S., Ding, B.A., Gui, L., Simal-Gándara, J., Shukry, M., Sayed, S.M., Al – Hazani, T.M., 2021. Effects of different feeding regimes on muscle metabolism and its association with meat quality of Tibetan sheep. Food chemistry, 374, 131611.
Zhang, X., Han, L., Hou, S., Raza, S.H., Gui, L., Sun, S., Wang, Z., Yang, B., Yuan, Z., Simal-Gándara, J., El-Shehawi, A.M., Alswat, A.S., Alenezi, M.A., Shukry, M., Sayed, S.M., Aloufi, B.H., 2022. Metabolomics approach reveals high energy diet improves the quality and enhances the flavor of black Tibetan sheep meat by altering the composition of rumen microbiota, Frontiers in Nutrition, 9, 915558.
Zhou, L., Raza, S.H., Gao, Z., Sayed, S.M., Shukry, M., Abd El-Aziz, A.H., Alotaibi, M.A., Jahejo, A.R., Simal-Gándara, J., Hou, S., Gui, L., 2021. Variations in the insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) and its association with growth traits in Chinese black Tibetan sheep (Ovis aries), Animal Biotechnology, 32, 786 - 791.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Worthy Vice-Chancellor, LUVAS, Hisar (India) for providing needed facility for conducting this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
AM and YCB designed the study and analysed the data, YCB and AM wrote paper, ASY edited initial version of the paper, all authors have approved final version of the paper.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical approval
The present investigation did not require ethical approval as data records were collected from Sheep breeding farm, Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, LUVAS, Hisar, Haryana (India).
Consent for publication
The authors give their consent for publication.
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding publication of this paper.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Magotra, A., Bangar, Y.C. & Yadav, A.S. Modelling the growth curve and estimation of associated genetic parameters in Munjal sheep. Trop Anim Health Prod 55, 205 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-023-03624-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-023-03624-1