A report on the Performance of Crossbred Desert sheep with the Brazilian Santa Ines Breed

Dr. A/ RahmanMagzoub Mohamed Ahmed(PhD)⁽¹⁾, Dr. Ahmed Mahmoud Shiekheldin(MSc.)⁽²⁾  And Dr. Mahmoud Abbas Halmi⁽²⁾

1. Animal Production Research Centre (Khartoum North) 2. General Directory of Animal Production Development, Genetic Resources Directory of Animal Production Development(Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries & Rangelands)

December 2013

1. Introduction:

Sheep population in Sudan is about 29 million heads (MLFR 2012) mostly under nomadic and semi_nomadic husbandry systems. The types of sheep include Hamari, Kabbashi, Wateesh, Dubasi,Ashgar and Gazira, but the Hamari and Kabbashi types are the most famous especially in the export markets.

Although research in sheep in Sudan started early, but its impact on the sheep industry is very limited. Genetic improvement is left to the breeders who make selection according to the environmental conditions in which they manage their flocks. Crossbreeding with exotic breeds to improve meat production and carcass qualities in a wide scale for commercial purposes is not attempted. This might be due to the assumption that we have the best breeds of sheep for meat production. This assumption does not hold true when we look at other sheep breeds in the world which have better growth rates and carcass yield. So, if Sudan is looking for quality meat markets, then we have to think seriously about genetic improvement in our sheep to strengthen their weak production and reproduction traits and make use of their strong and positive characteristics like adaptability and non-seasonal breeding. This iniative is now taken by one of the enterpreneurs in the private sector, Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim Adam of Fortliza Company. It is shown in the following pilot crossbreeding project.

 the obtained cross

2. Project description:

This project was started in 2012. It is a trial of crossing Sudanese Desert Sheep (mainly Hamari and Kabbashi) with the Brazilian Santa Ines sheep breed through artificial insemination with frozen semen imported from Brazil.

The Santa Ines is a breed of sheep from Brazil which is primarily raised for meat. It is one of the largest and most productive hair sheep breeds common in Brazil. It is thought to have been derived from crosses of the Morada Nova,  Bergamasca and the native coare-wooled sheep.The breed is well adapted to tropical climates and it is known to be more parasite – resistant than other meat sheep breeds.

The idea of the project is to produce crossbred animals of better growth rates and higher carcass yields at younger ages and good adaptation to local environmental conditions.

3. Project Location and Area:

The project is located at West Omdurman area about 5km west of Omdurman Terminal Livestock Market (AlmowailihMarket). The project area is about 8 hectares from which 2 hectares are cultivated with irrigated fodder (Brachiariahumidicola)to feed the animals.

4. Project Justification:

(i) The increasing trend in the world meat market for quality specifications and standards under which Sudanese sheep breeds cannot comply with having their present genetic makeup unimproved.

(ii) The need to develop systems of production that are market-oriented in quality and price competitiveness.

(iii) The need to improve production and reproduction qualities of Sudanese sheep breeds to qualify for regional and international sheep meat markets.

5. Project Objectives:

(i) Improve meat yield of Sudanese desert sheep by crossbreeding.

(ii)  Improve growth rates and carcass qualities of local sheep breeds aiming at heavier weights at younger ages.

(iii) Qualify Sudanese sheep meat for competition in regional and international markets.

(iv) Enhance specialized sheep breeding for mutton and lamb production on larger scales to address quality markets fetching better prices.

(v) End up with a prolific and adapted synthetic sheep breed of better growth rates, heavy carcass at younger age, high muscle ratio, low fat, and high dressing percentage. Such future breed is supposed to improve the economics of production of sheep, able to compete in quality and price, and increase the contribution of sheep in the national economy as a source of hard currency.

6. The Experimental Trial:

The trail was started in 2012 by purchasing 267 ewes (202 Hamari and 65 Kabbashi) from GebaishDistrich in Northern Kordofan State. The animals were trucked to Khartoum State and accommodated in Fortiliza Farm at Western Omdurman.

On arrival to the farm, the animals were ear – tagged, treated for internal and external parasites and vaccinated against Sheep Pox, Anthrax, H.S. and pest of small ruminants.  The ewes were sorted out and divided into 6 groups of 30 ewes each. In August 2012 frozen semen from 5 Santa Ines rams was imported and artificial insemination was performed by two Brazilian experts (Dr. Marcellio and Dr. Erika) and Sudanese vets on 150 ewes (100 Hamari and 50 Kabbashi).

The ewes were fed ground nut hay and Brachiariafodder (at a later stage) and a concentrate mix of Sorghum grain, wheat bran, cotton seed cake, lime stone, common salt and mineral salt lick During insemination the ear tag number, the body condition score, age,name of inseminater and name of ram were recorded.

A control group with local rams was reared in the same premises and fed the same ration to allow comparison between the crossbred and local offspring’s raised under the same conditions.

7. Results:

It was observed that the conception rate was low (14%) due to the following reasons:

(i)               The use of trans cervical method of artificial insemination instead of laparoscopy. The results obtained were similar to the results in other countries using the transcerviced  method .

(ii)             The body condition score of many of the animals was below 2.

(iii)           Although August is one of the wet summer months in Sudan, but temperatures were high and a carried – over effect of the hotter months of July and June might have affected conception rates.

7-2. Performance results:

The number of lambs born was 21 (12 males and 9 females).

The production performance is shown in the following table:

Performance Breed	Av.Birth Weight (kg) (males & females)	Av. Weight at two month (kg)(males	Av. Weight at 6 months of age (kg)(males)	Av. Daily weight  gain (g)	Mortalityrate	Dressing percentage (males)
Santa Ines crosses (F1) (Experimental group)	4.8	22.50	51,9	261	10%	58%
Hamari&Kabbashi (control group)	3.8	14	23	107	3%	47%

The above results show that the birth weight of the crosses was 26% more than the local desert sheep. The difference between the liveweights of the male Santa Ines crosses and the male desert sheep at two months of age was 60.7%. At 6 months of age the difference was 125.6%. This shows the high growth rates of the Santa Ines male crosses which attained an average daily liveweight gain of 261g compared to 107g for the local desert sheep raised under the same management conditions. The lamb mortality rate was 10% in the Santa Ines and 3% for the local breeds. The mortality in the Santa Ines lambs was observed among twins.

8. Conclusions and Recommendations:

(i) The results of this trial gave good indicators of the superiority of the crosses of Santa Ines ×Hamari and Kabbashi over their local contemporaries.

(ii) The results are promising and encourage the continuation of this experiment on a large scale aiming at a synthetic meat breed of sheep of better production and reproduction traits.

(iii) It is recommended that laparoscopy should be used instead of transcervical A.I. to increase conception rates.

(i)               To decrease the cost of production it is advised that more land should be cultivated with brachiariahumidicolato reduce the costs of feeding.

(ii)             The efforts of FortilizaFarm to reach the set objectives should be augmented and supported.

(iii)           The right of FortilizaFarm in developing this kind of crossbred sheep (Santa Ines × Sudanese Desert sheep) should be observed and protected.