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Factors affecting the lactation curve parameters of crossbred dairy ewes in a flock of the highlands of Mexico

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Abstract

Sheep milk production is incipient in Mexico with scarce knowledge on the performance of dairy ewes from different breeds. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of breed (Awassi (Aw), East Friesian (EF) and other (Ot)), parity number (1, 2 and 3 or more (+ 3)), litter size (1 and 2 or more (+ 2)) and lambing season (spring–summer (SS) and autumn–winter (AW)) on day of peak yield (DP), peak yield (PY), persistency (P), total milk yield (TMY), 305-day milk yield (TMY305d), 150-day milk yield (TMY150d) and lactation length (LL) of crossbred dairy ewes in a flock of the central highlands of Mexico. A total of 4312 weekly milk yield records collected from 2014 to 2015 were used to model 133 lactations using a random regression model with a fifth-order orthogonal polynomial. Flock mean values of curve parameters were 42 days at DP, 1.2 kg/day at PY, − 3.5 g/day of P, 190 kg TMY, 189 kg TMY305, 124 kg TMY150 and 269 days of LL. Multiparous ewes had significantly higher (P < 0.05) PY and TMY than primiparous ewes. Ewes that lambed in AW had 15% higher PY and produced 14% more TMY than ewes that lambed in SS (P < 0.05). Correlations among curve parameters were significant except for the correlation between PY and LL and between P and TMY150d. TMY was strongly correlated with LL (0.91). Predominantly Awassi crossbred ewes had lower curve parameter values than predominantly East Friesian and other crossbred ewes.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the support of Fundación por el Desarrollo Regional y la Competitividad (FUNDECO) in particular to Mr. Sergio Peralta, President, and Mr. Miguel Anaya Osorio, Executive Director, for the facilities provided to undertake this work. Our gratitude also goes to the staff of Centro Ovino, the demonstration and training farm of FUNDECO on dairy sheep production for their assistance in collecting and making available the lactation records. We also acknowledge the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología — CONACYT) for and the postdoctoral grant for José Velarde-Guillén (postdoctoral grant 40471).

Funding

The Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología — CONACYT) for and the postdoctoral grant for José Velarde-Guillén (postdoctoral grant 40471) and the grant for doctoral studies of Aurora Sainz-Ramírez.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Rurales (ICAR), Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Campus UAEM El Cerrillo, CP 50090, Toluca, México

    José Velarde-Guillén, Aurora Sainz-Ramírez, Minerva González-Sánchez & Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán

  2. Facultad de Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Av. La Molina S/N, Lima, Perú

    José Velarde-Guillén

  3. School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

    Nicolás López-Villalobos

  4. Centro Universitario UAEM Temascaltepec, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Carretera Toluca-Tejupilco Km.67.5, Temascaltepec, C.P. 51300, México

    Nicolás López-Villalobos & Benito Albarrán-Portillo

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  1. José Velarde-Guillén
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  2. Nicolás López-Villalobos
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  3. Aurora Sainz-Ramírez
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  4. Minerva González-Sánchez
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  5. Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán
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  6. Benito Albarrán-Portillo
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Contributions

José Velarde-Guillén: data collation, writing — original draft, review and editing the final manuscript.

Nicolás López-Villalobos: conceptualization and statistical analyses, editing final manuscript.

Aurora Sainz-Ramírez: data collation, writing — original draft.

Minerva González-Sánchez: investigation, data collection, writing — original draft.

Carlos Manuel Arriaga-Jordán: conceptualization, writing — review and editing.

Albarrán-Portillo Benito: methodology, formal analyses, writing — review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benito Albarrán-Portillo.

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Velarde-Guillén, J., López-Villalobos, N., Sainz-Ramírez, A. et al. Factors affecting the lactation curve parameters of crossbred dairy ewes in a flock of the highlands of Mexico. Trop Anim Health Prod 54, 373 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-022-03371-9

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