Table 3. Predicted means for the type of birth effects on lamb growth traits of pure Moghani sheep and second generations of crossbred lambs (F2 and BC1).
| Traits | Type of birth | SEM | P Value | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singletons | Twins | Triplets | Quadruplets | |||||||
| N | Mean | N | Mean | N | Mean | N | Mean | |||
| BW (kg) | 428 | 4.70 a | 237 | 4.11 a | 4 | 2.80 b | 7 | 2.67 b | 0.23 | <0.0001 |
| W3adj (kg) or weaning | 428 | 26.67 a | 237 | 25.20 ab | 2 | 23.20 ab | 7 | 22.55 b | 0.31 | <0.0001 |
| W6adj (kg) | 428 | 47.50 | 237 | 46.97 | 2 | 46.14 | 7 | 43.01 | 0.48 | 0.1798 |
| Diff1 (kg) | 428 | 22.13 a | 237 | 21.06 ab | 2 | 20.58 ab | 7 | 19.88 b | 0.19 | 0.0009 |
| Diff2 (kg) | 428 | 20.76 | 237 | 21.90 | 2 | 22.96 | 7 | 20.47 | 0.36 | 0.9129 |
| ADWG1 (gr) | 428 | 245.85 a | 237 | 234.01 ab | 2 | 228.71ab | 7 | 220.87 b | 2.10 | 0.0009 |
| ADWG2 (gr) | 428 | 230.63 | 237 | 243.16 | 2 | 255.06 | 7 | 227.41 | 4.01 | 0.9129 |
N: number of lambs at each group; SEM: standard error of mean; BW: birth weight; W3adj: adjusted weight at 3 months (weaning); W6adj: adjusted weight at 6 months; Diff1: difference of weights at birth to 3 months; Diff2: difference of weights at 3–6 months; ADWG1; average daily weight gain from birth to 3 months; ADWG2: average daily weight gain from 3 to 6 months. a,b: The means with the same letter in each row are not significantly different by Duncan’s multiple range test at 0.05 level.