Effects of crossbreeding on milk production of sheep

The aim of this study was to estimate the effects of crossbreeding on milk production and milk components in crossbred Tsigai, Lacaune, and Improved Wallachian sheep used to create a synthetic Slovak dairy sheep population. The local breeds Tsigai and Improved Wallachian were crossed with the high-yielding breed Lacaune to increase milk yield. The effects of crossbreeding were evaluated based on breed and heterosis effects. The database used consisted of 23 018 lactations from 15 888 ewes. The effects of crossbreeding on milk production and fat and protein content were estimated using the restricted maximum likelihood method in REMLF90. Fixed effects on milk yield were also studied. In ewes with a 100% heterosis effect (ewes from purebred parents of different breeds), the heterosis effect increased milk production by 11.642 kg, milk fat production by 0.772 kg, and protein production by 0.565 kg per milking period. The effect of the Tsigai breed on milk production was –21.98 kg compared to Lacaune, while for the Improved Wallachian breed, the value was –38.58 kg. The Tsigai direct breed effect reduced fat production by 1.56 kg and protein production by 1.34 kg. The Improved Wallachian direct breed effect was –2.71 kg for fat production and –2.27 kg for protein production.