GENETICALLY SIZE-SCALED GROWTH AND COMPOSITION OF DORSET AND SUFFOLK RAMS

Thirty-four Dorset and 34 Suffolk rams were slaughtered in pairs withi n breed at birth, weaning, at monthly intervals to 420 days and then a t bimonthly intervals until 600 days to compare factors used to estima te mature size and to determine how genetic size-scaling affects the c omparison of body composition between breeds. At equal empty body weig hts there were no detectable differences between the breeds in amounts of water, protein or ash but Dorsets contained more lipid. Dorset and Suffolk asymptotic values of water (40 and 61 kg), water-plus-protein -plus-ash (51 and 77 kg), metacarpal bone length (127 and 147 mm) and metacarpal bone weight (59 and 101 g) were used to estimate mature siz e. Regardless of the estimator of mature size, there were no significa nt differences between breeds in degree of maturity at a given metabol ic age. At the same degree of maturity within the estimators of mature size, there were no differences between breeds in the degree of matur ity of water, protein or ash, with the exception of small differences in protein for two of the mature size indicators. Because lipid appear ed to accumulate without limit in these sheep, the mature body was ass umed to contain 300 g lipid per kg. Using this proportion to estimate amount of mature lipid, there was a higher degree of maturity of lipid for Suffolk than for Dorset rams at equal degrees of maturity of wate r, water-plus-protein-plus-ash or metacarpal bone weight. Thus, Dorset s with greater lipid content at equivalent empty body weights were lea ner than Suffolks when adjusted for mature size. The similarity in wat er, protein and ash content among breeds of diverse mature size, when adjusted for genetic size using a wide variety of mature size estimato rs, implies that the genetic size-scaling rules apply within sheep bre eds if any lipid-independent estimator of mature size is used.