Observations on Body Weights and Breeding of the Northern Brown Bandicoot, Isoodon macrourus, Trapped in South-East Queensland

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 467 ◽  
Author(s):  
LS Hall

Information on body weight, measurements and breeding is recorded for 96 female and 42 male Isoodon macrourus, trapped in the vicinity of Brisbane. Data are also given on sex ratio, nipple attachment site and mortality for 128 pouch young from 44 litters. I. macrourus is the heaviest peramelid, with a mean body weight of 1046 ( � 263)g for females and 1496 ( � 359)g for males. Seasonal effects on body weight are evident in females but absent in males. Females with pouch young were significantly heavier than those without young for most months of the year. Unlike most other peramelids, I. macrourus has no defined breeding season in south-eastern Queensland. Females produce litters in all months of the year, with a peak in August and a low in June. Litter size averaged 2.9, which is the lowest recorded for the species. Female body weight had a positive linear relationship with litter size (y= 0.001297x + 1.444). Sex ratio of adults was 1:1, but that of pouch young favoured males 1:0.8. Of the eight pouch teats available, young favoured the four anterior nipples (72 v.56) and males outnumbered females on the left-side nipples. Survival rate of pouch young, as indicated by litter size from 0 to 50 days, showed no variation but there appears to be a high mortality for young after they leave the pouch and before they reach a body weight of 500 g.

1979 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Quirke

ABSTRACTGroups of spring-born Galway (G) and Fingalway (F) ewe lambs were fed a concentrate diet either ad libitum (H) or at a restricted level (L) during the period 25 July to 16 October 1974 in order to induce differences in body weight at the start of the breeding season. The mean live weights of the GL, GH, FL and FH groups on 16 October 1974 were 37·8 ± 1·3, 44·6 ± 1·3, 35·1 ± 1·1 and 41·9 ± 1·2 kg respectively. More than 95% of the lambs in all four groups attained puberty before 28 February 1975. Galway ewe lambs reached puberty later in the breeding season and were older and heavier at puberty than Fingalways. Animals fed ad libitum were heavier at puberty and attained puberty earlier in the season and at a younger age than those on the restricted feeding regime.Both conception rate and litter size were lower in Galways than Fingalways. There was no evidence of any effect of the nutritional treatments on conception rate or litter size. The mean body weights at puberty for ewes which lambed and those which were barren were 41·9 ± 0·49 and 41·5 ± 0·78 kg respectively. The birth weight and growth rate of the progeny of the ewe lambs was similar for the two breeds and was not influenced by the previous nutritional treatment of the dams. The total lamb mortality between birth and weaning was 40·3%, and 72% of all deaths occurred within 48 h of birth. Losses among twins (48%) were particularly heavy.


1996 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. M. S. Al-Nakib ◽  
E. S. S. Al-Shukaily ◽  
S. S. S. Al-Hanai ◽  
S. A. M. Al-Nabhani

SUMMARYAs part of a long-term breeding programme aimed at improving the performance of Omani goats and sheep, a 3-year performance trial was carried out between 1991 and 1993 to evaluate the reproductive and productive performance of three breeds of goat: Batinah (BT), Dhofari (DH) and Jabal Akhdar (JA), and one breed of local Omani sheep. In each year, flushing started on 1 September, mating started on 1 October and terminated on 15 November, and the kidding/lambing season started on average on 1 March. Kids and lambs were weaned at c. 3 months of age, then put on a 3-month performance test, fed on concentrates ad libitum and Rhodes grass hay. Some 3706 dam and 3011 progeny performance records were available over a 3-year period from 1991 to 1993. Ewes were lighter in body weight and lower in litter size weaned but higher in fertility than the does. Although the lambs had lighter birth weights, they were heavier at weaning and at 6 months of age. Among the goats, the DH does had lighter body weight but higher litter size weaned than both the BT and the JA goats. DH kids were somewhat lighter at birth, weaning and 6-month body weights than the other two breeds but had higher survival.The sheep had higher output per ewe exposed (3·28 kg, 33%) and per ewe lambed (3·27 kg, 26%) and were 35% more efficient in production than the goats. Although the DH goats had a lower output per doe exposed than the BT and JA goats (0·9 kg, 9 % and 0·76 kg, 7% respectively) and per doe kidded (1·11 kg, 9% and 1·29 kg, 10%), they had higher efficiency of production than both BT (0·05 units, 6%) and JA (0·11 units, 14%).In view of these results, attention should be paid to the sheep industry through the introduction of promotion schemes. The DH goats would be even more useful if involved in a crossbreeding scheme and the JA goats would benefit from selection for maternal care.


2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 595-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
JP Xu ◽  
YP Yin ◽  
XQ Zhou

The study was conducted to determine the effects of vitamin E on reproductive performance in mice treated with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). The 75 female and 40 male mice were randomly assigned into five groups. The levels of both TCDD and vitamin E given by gavage were 0 and 0 (Control group), 100 and 0 (experimental group I), 100 and 20 (experimental group II), 100 and 100 (experimental group III), and 100 ng/kg/day and 500 mg/kg/day (experimental group IV), respectively. Males and females were mixed to mate at the ratio of 1:2 after 4-week experiment. The gavage treatments were continued until the end of gestation in female mice after mating. The results showed that the litter number, survival rate, and body weight at birth of offspring in experimental group I had significantly decreased, and the females’ pregnancy rate and pup sex ratio in experimental group I had the decreasing tendencies when compared with the control group. The litter number in experimental group III, survival rate in experimental group II and III, body weight at birth in experimental group III and IV exhibited significant increase compared with experimental group I. The female pregnancy rate in both experimental group III and IV recovered to 100%, but there were no significant differences when compared with experimental group I. The pups’ sex ratio had a gradually increasing tendency with increase of vitamin E level, but there was no significant difference among experimental group I–IV. The results suggest that TCDD could induce reproductive toxicity in mice, whereas vitamin E alleviated adverse effects on reproductive performance in mice caused by TCDD.


1988 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 492-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. D. Young ◽  
G. E. Dickerson

Booroola Merino (B, n= 18) and Finnsheep (F, n =31) rams were mated to F ewes and C3 ewes (1/2 Columbia, 1/4 Suffolk, 1/4 Hampshire). Progeny of these matings were evaluated for performance traits including ewe reproduction through 3 years of age. Averaged over dam breeds, there was no significant difference between B and F sires for conception rate (CR), litter size (LS) at birth or weaning or for lamb mortality to weaning. The difference among sire breeds was not large or significant for birth weight but F sired lambs were significantly heavier than B sired lambs at 63 and 147 days of age. Relative to F sired lambs, B sired lambs had a higher dressing percentage and less fat at the 12th rib but equal estimated percentage kidney fat. A significantly smaller percentage of B-C3 than F, F-C3 or B-F ewe lambs reached puberty by the end of their first breeding season. Ovulation rate at first mating was higher but embryo survival rate tended to be lower for B sired ewes than for F sired ewes. At 2 years of age, B sired ewes produced about 1 kg more wool than F sired ewes. With the exception of the very poor CR of B-C3 ewes at first parity, the differences between the four ewe genotypes were not large or significant for CR at first, second and third parity. The difference between B and F sired ewes in LS at birth was not significant at first parity but B sired ewes were more prolific at second and third parities. However, differences in lamb mortality reduced, and in some cases removed, the differences in LS by weaning time. Relative use of these breeds in commercial U.S. production schemes is discussed.


1964 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 975-986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Newson ◽  
Antoon de Vos

The age structure and body weight of two snowshoe hare populations, just at or passing a cyclical peak in numbers, were studied over 3 years. The survival of the young was poor. Each winter, the young of the previous summer were already too few to replace all the normally expected losses of adults. Numbers therefore decreased from year to year. Shot samples were biased towards adult females in the breeding season. It appeared that they were feeding more heavily than the males as their gut weights at this time were markedly increased. There was a clear annual cycle in body weight with females consistently heavier than males. Immature hares were lighter than adults during their first winter and remained so until they were at least a year old.


1991 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. K. Singh ◽  
C. S. P. Singh ◽  
H. R. Mishra

AbstractGenetic and non-genetic factors affecting survival during the post-weaning period from 3 to 12 months of age were assessed in 823 kids (217 Black Bengal, 410 Jamunapari × Black Bengal and 196 Beetal × Black Bengal) born during 1981-86. The overall survival rates during 3 to 6 and 6 to 12 months of age were 79·22 (s.e. 4·06) and 82·02 (s.e. 5·49)% respectively. Variation in survival rate during 3 to 6 months of age was significant due to season of their birth (P < 0·01) and birth weight (P < 0·05). Survival rate during 6 to 12 months of age varied due to genetic group (P < 0·01), sex (P < 0·05) and birth weight (P < 0·05). Type of birth (litter size), dam's weight at kidding and filial generation had no significant effect on survival rate during the post-weaning period. Birth weight of kids had a positive linear relationship with their survivability during post-weaning period. Summer-born kids had significantly lower survival rates from 3 to 6 months of age compared with those born in the winter and monsoon periods. Heritability estimates for survival rates during the post-weaning period were not significantly different from zero.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-85
Author(s):  
Md. Abu Sayed Jewel ◽  
Md. Ayenuddin Haque ◽  
Mst. Shahanaj Ferdous ◽  
Mst. Samsad Khatun ◽  
Dil Afroza Khanom ◽  
...  

Abstract The gonadosomatic index (GSI) and fecundity of the threatened Cirrhinus reba (Hamilton) was studied over a period of one year from January to December 2015 in the Ganges River (northwest Bangladesh). The GSI index indicated that the C. reba breeding season in the Ganges was from June to September with the peak in August. Fish fecundity increased with increasing fish length and weight, and the highest fecundity (265,042.23) was recorded in a fish with a total length, a body weight, and an ovary weight of 23.80 cm, 136.00 g and 45.00 g, respectively. There was a linear relationship between fecundity and total length (r = 0.871), body weight (r = 0.872), and ovary weight (r = 0.879), with that between ovary weight and fecundity being the strongest.


Author(s):  
Kazunari Yano

The reproductive biology of 1124 male (165–760 mm TL) and 1476 female (175–898 mm TL) black dogfish,Centroscyllium fabricii, was examined. The sharks were caught off western Greenland with bottom otter trawls. Size at maturity was about 550 mm TL in males and 650 mm TL in females. Ovarian ova did not continue to develop during gestation. The sex ratio of embryos was 1:1. Litter size ranged from 4 to 40, with a mean of 16–4. The total number of mature ova, fertilized ova, or embryos tended to increase with size of the females. Development of black dogfish embryos is dependent solely on yolk reserves. Near-term embryos (152–192 mm TL) had completely absorbed their external yolk sacs. The smallest free-living specimens collected in this study were 165 mm TL for males and 175 mm TL for females. The black dogfish does not seem to have a well-defined breeding season. This species displayed a well-defined pattern of depth segregation by size. The sex ratios in five shallow depth strata (500–599, 600–699, 700–799,800–899, and 900–999 m) were 1:1, but those of three deeper depth strata (1000–1099,1100–1199, and 1200–1299 m) contained a significantly greater number of females than males. Four abnormal hermaphrodites possessed gonads containing both testicular and ovarian tis-sues. Two specimens had normal female reproductive organs (e.g. ovaries, oviducts, nidamental glands, and uteri) as well as claspers.


1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. Atkins

ABSTRACTReproductive performance, body growth, wool production and ewe survival were examined in Scottish Blackface sheep. The data set was from a large randomly selected population maintained under hill conditions between 1954 and 1974. Paternal half-sib analyses of variance were used to estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations, while maternal half-sib analyses of variance indicated the relative importance of maternal effects (both genetic and environmental).Among reproductive components, the heritability of fertility (ewes lambing per ewe mated) and lamb survival (lambs weaned per lamb born) were about zero. Litter size (lambs born per ewe lambing) had an estimated heritability of 0·12 (s.e. 0·04) and a repeatability of 0·22 (s.e. 0·02), indicating some scope for improvement. Additionally, the strong genetic correlation between adult body weight and litter size (0·66, s.e. 0·18) suggested greater response from a combination of indirect selection (on body weight) and direct selection (on dam's litter size). Prior to weaning, direct genetic effects on body weight were very small (heritability less than 0·1) with a large influence of maternal environment. After weaning, these maternal influences gradually diminished and the heritability of weight increased. Genetic correlations between body weights showed a similar increasing trend with age. Genetic improvement of early growth rate would be more effective by selecting on a post-weaning rather than a pre-weaning body weight. Fleece weight had a high heritability (about 0·5) but was genetically uncorrelated with other measures of performance. Ewe survival had a small genetic component although estimates of heritability were very imprecise.


2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 54-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kuchtík ◽  
IDobeš

The effect of some factors (genotype, sex, litter size, age of dam at lambing, month of lambing and year of birth of lamb) on the growth of lambs &ndash; crossbreds between the Improved Wallachian (IW) and East Friesian (EF) breed was evaluated in operating conditions during two successive years. Three genotypes were evaluated: IW 50 EF 50, EF 75 IW 25 and EF 87.5 IW 12.5. The evaluation of the effect of genotype on growth showed that this factor did not have a significant effect on the majority of growth traits under study. In the period from birth to 100 days of age the highest daily gain was found in IW 50 EF 50 (263 g). The daily gains of EF 75 IW 25 and EF&nbsp;87.5 IW 12.5 in this period were lower but identical (244 g). Age of dam had a significant effect on the majority of growth traits under study. Sex of lamb had a significant effect on body weight at 100 days of age and also on the majority of daily gains under study. The factors litter size, month of lambing and year of lamb birth were the most significant sources of variation of daily gains. As far as the non-genetic factors were concerned, the highest daily gains from birth to 100 days of age were recorded in males (259 g), in singles (260 g), in lambs from 4-years-old ewes (269 g), in lambs born in January (263 g) and in lambs born in the first year of evaluation (256 g). The analysis of phenotypic correlations indicated that body weight at birth showed a positive and highly significant (P&nbsp;&le; 0.01) effect on the majority of growth traits under study. All phenotypic correlations between individual body weights were positive and high (P &le; 0.01). The majority of phenotypic correlations between individual daily gains under study were also positive and high (P &le; 0.01). &nbsp;


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