Photo from wikipedia
The freemartinism syndrome affects almost all female calves born as co-twins to male calves, whereas little is known about this phenomenon in female sheep. Within this context, 1,185 ewe-lambs from… Click to show full abstract
The freemartinism syndrome affects almost all female calves born as co-twins to male calves, whereas little is known about this phenomenon in female sheep. Within this context, 1,185 ewe-lambs from the Ripollesa sheep breed were genotyped for the presence of oY1 polymorphism (a non-autosomal region of the Y chromosome). Neither ewe-lambs from single births (856) nor ewe-lambs from all-female multiple births (170) were revealed as freemartins, whereas five of 159 ewe-lambs from multiple births with male co-twins were freemartins (3.15 ± 1.38%). All freemartin ewe-lambs were confirmed by physical examination of external genitalia. The results confirm a low incidence of freemartinism from heterosexual twin pregnancies in Ripollesa sheep.
Journal Title: Journal of Veterinary Science
Year Published: 2018
Link to full text (if available)
Share on Social Media: Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!