VARIATION IN PRODUCTION TRAITS AND PLASMA METABOLITES OF MERINO FIRST- AND SECOND-CROSS LAMBS DURING EARLY GROWTH

摘要

The rate of muscle and fat tissue development during the early post-natal growing stage influences an animal’s muscle and fat content, which in turn may alter the adaptability of an animal to stress caused by hormonal changes (Lobley 1998; Wagenmakers 2000). The ability of an animal to handle stress may be related to its genetic background since fat and muscle tissue deposition varies with dam and sire type. Therefore, muscle development and quality may differ among genotypes due to variation in energy utilisation, which is controlled by the responses to homeostatic and stress hormones.