Muralidharan, JThiruvenkadan, AKRajendran, R, et al.,TANUVAS2022-11-292022-11-292022https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810190138TNV_IJSR_2022_28(2)267-272The objective of study was to estimate the genetic parameters for average daily gain and feed efficiency in Mecheri sheep in an organized farm. A total of 2516 records collected over a period of 10 years (2010 to 2019) were utilised for the study. The least-squares means for average daily gain (ADG) at different periods viz., ADG1, ADG2 and ADG3 were 89.83±1.38, 43.06±1.61 and 35.65±1.41 g, respectively and the means for Kleiber ratio (KR) for KR1, KR2 and KR3 were 15.20±0.10, 5.63±0.18 and 3.49±0.12, respectively. The direct heritability estimates for ADG1, ADG2, ADG3, KR1, KR2 and KR3 were 0.14±0.05, 0.06±0.04, 0.04±0.04, 0.14±0.05, 0.08±0.05 and 0.05±0.04, respectively and the corresponding maternal heritability estimates were 0.03±0.02, 0.01±0.02, 0.05±0.03, 0.02±0.02, 0.01±0.03 and 0.06±0.03, respectively. The genetic correlations of ADG1 were highly positive with ADG3 and KR1 and negative with ADG2 (−0.697) and KR2 (−0.843). The genetic correlations of KR1 with other traits ranged between -0.049 and 0.988 and KR2 had high genetic correlation (0.974) with only ADG2. It is crucial to consider any negative relationships between the pre- and post-weaning development characteristics when putting the breeding methods into practice. ADG and KR from birth to three months should be considered, since heritability estimates and the strength of the genetic and phenotypic correlations were strong at this stage of development.EnglishVeterinary ScienceArticle