5. CYPRUS AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE TRIAL

The Cyprus trial was started in 1972. Twenty-five 6 month-old lambs (22 F and 3 MM) were imported from Finland (Table 2). The objective of the trial was to test the performance of purebred Finn under Cyprus conditions and cross them with both Cyprus fat-tail ewes and Awassi x Chios crossbreds. The crossbred females produced were bred to Ile-de-France (IDF) rams (imported from France) to produce fat-lambs. The results of the trial were reported by Agrotis (1976) and Cyprus Agriculture Research Institute (1980).

5.1 Performance of purebred Finn

Table 18 shows the performance of Finn ewes in Cyprus over the years 1973-75. Estimate of lambs born/ewe lambing was high, higher than that of Chios sheep in Cyprus (Hadjipanayoti, personal communication). However, 23 percent of the lambs produced were born dead which is a very high figure for Cyprus conditions. Lamb losses during the suckling period were also high in the first 2 years. This resulted in figures of only 1.0, 1.0 and 1.33 lambs weaned/ewe lambing in the year of 1973, 1974 and 1975, respectively. Ewe fertility was also unsatisfactory (less than 70 percent). These factors resulted in a lower number of lambs weaned per ewe joined.

Birth weight of the purebred Finn lambs was rather low. Their subsequent growth rate up to weaning, however, was satisfactory.

5.2 Performance of Finn crosses

Finn crossbred ewes with Cyprus fat-tail or Awassi x Chios were bred to IDF rams. The available number of crossbred ewes was small. However, the results in Table 19 indicate good prolificacy in the Finn crossbred ewes especially with. Awassi x Chios. Gestation length of Finn crossbred ewes was shorter than that of Cyprus ewes.

Birth weight of the Finn crossbred lambs was rather high (4.8 kg for males 4.5 kg for females). Mortality rate up to weaning was only 0.6 percent and that from weaning up to 20-weeks of age was 4.1 percent.

Finn crossbred lambs showed the highest postweaning growth rates among local breeds, Awassi and their different crosses; 247-257 g/day vs. 185g/day for local lambs (Cyprus Agricultural Research Institute, 1977).

Birth weight of the fat-lambs resulting from crossing with IDF was less than that of the first cross, perhaps due their high prolificacy (Hadjipanayoti, personal communication).

Furthermore, milk production of the Finn crossbred ewes was not satisfactory (Table 19).

Table 18: Performance of purebred Finn sheep in cyprus.

Table 19: Results from IDF x Finn x (Awassi-Chios) and IDF x (Finn x Cyprus fat-tail) in Cyprus.