Effect of sex on some growth performance and blood parameters of Hamdani lambs

This study was undertaken to explore the effect of sex on growth performance and some blood parameters (hematological and biochemical) of Hamdani lambs. The correlation among productive traits and blood parameters were also investigated. Ten Hamdani ram lambs and ewe lambs of 29.9 ± 1.7 kg average body weight and 3.5- 4.5 months old were used in this study. The lambs were divided into two groups; the first group included 5 ram lambs, while the second group included 5 ewe lambs. Results showed significant (P 0.05) increase of average daily weight gain and total weight gain in ram lambs as compared with ewe lambs. Higher (P 0.05) feed consumption was observed in ram lambs as compared with ewe lambs. A significant correlations (P 0.05) were noticed between final weight and MCH, MCHC, cholesterol and albumin (0.71, 0.7, 0.65, and 0.71 resp.). The same pattern was noted between average daily weight gain and MCHC (0.73) and total weight gain with ALT enzyme (0.67). It was concluded that the productive performance and blood parameters were superior in Hamdani ram lambs as compared with ewe lambs.