THE PERFORMANCE OF THE FLORINA (PELAGONIA) SHEEP IN COMPARISON TO ITSCROSSES

Crossbreeding has been widely used in Greece in an effort to upgrade t he local breeds and is still officially promoted. The purpose of the p resent study is to examine if such a policy, which has resulted in the Florina breed been nominated as endangered, was actually beneficial. For this reason, a comparison of the performance (milk yield, lamb pro duction and growth) of the Florina sheep to its crosses with the breed s Chios, Karagouniko and Serres is presented, based on available data produced in the flock farmed in the Animal Research Institute of Giann itsa. Lambing and milk production records collected during a 7 year pe riod were used in the present study. Lamb weights at birth, 15, 30, 60 , 75 and 90 days of age recorded only in a single year, were also stud ied. The record analysis was performed using Harvey's mixed model leas t squares and maximum likelyhood computer programme. In two types of c rossing, milk yield was significantly higher than that of the purebred ewes. Purebreds produced 49.94 +/- 3.65 kg. Crosses with the Chios pr oduced 72.72 +/- 4.4 and crosses with the Serres produced 61.90 +/- 4. 51 kg (P < 0.001). Crossbreds with the Karagouniko breed did not produ ce significantly more milk (53.50 +/- 5.46). No significant effect of the type of crossing on the lactation length was found. Prolificacy wa s higher only for the crossbred ewes Chios x Florina (1.62 +/- 0.09 la mbs born vs 1.37 +/- 0.05 and 1.47 +/- 0.1 vs 1.28 +/- 0.05) while the crossbreds Karagouniko x Florina produced smaller litters (0.99 +/- 0 .14 lambs born and 0.92 +/- 0.11 lambs alive) (P < 0.001). The prolifi cacy of the Serres x Florina ewes was 1.40 +/- 0.10. Lamb survival to the age of weaning was high for all types of crossing (almost 100%). C rossbred lambs were not born heavier and did not grow faster than the purebred to the age of weaning. After that age, crossbreds grew faster for a while but at the age of 90 days there was not any significant e ffect of the type of crossing on the lamb weight.