Genotypic characterization of meat-type lambs expressing the callipyge gene in Turkey: II. Effect on body indexes

Abstract

This study is set out to examine the relationship between the callipyge (CLPG) gene, attributed to sheep affecting growth and meat quality, and body indexes of meat-type sheep breeds to assess its feasibility in using it genomic selection programs. For this purpose, blood samples were collected from 177 lambs (66 male, 111 female) of five different sheep breeds (Kivircik, Karacabey Merino, Ramlic, German Black-Head Mutton x Kivircik, Hampshire Down x Merino) to identify M (mutant) and N (normal) alleles and genotypes. Live weight (LW) and morphometric measurements were taken on the 90th, 180th, and 360th day of the study. The principal component analysis results show that four morphometric measurements (body length, BL; chest circumference, CC; chest width, CW; withers height, WH) and two body indexes (index of body weight, IBF; Baron-Crevat index, BCI) with LW could be used to the morphometric characterization. It was found that the cannon bone perimeter (CBP) was the differentiation point of CLPG genotypes. While a lower to moderate correlation was observed between CBP to CC, LW, CW, chest depth (CD), and rump width (RW) in the NN genotype, no significant correlation was observed in the MN genotype. This investigation also revealed that BCI and IBF were the two body indexes that should be adopted into breeding schemes as a performance and etiological comparison of animals, especially in marker-assisted selection schemes due to well-reflecting animal current status.