Ten Chios ewe hoggets and three rams were imported from Cyprus and their performance was compared with that of 49 Assaf (East Friesian X Awassi) contemporaries. Lambing rates (lambs/ewe/year) for the Chios and Assaf ewes in the first and second to fifth lambings were 1.89 and 1.42 (P < 0.01), and 2.10 and 1.69 (P < 0.03), respectively. Yearly milk yields were 206 ± 30 and 225 ± 16 ; not significant (NS) and 269 ± 31 and 345 ± 22 kg (P < 0.05), respectively. There were no significant differences

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... between the two breeds in lambing interval and in lamb mortality. There were no significant differences between 47 Assaf and 35 Chios X Assaf (ChAs) ewes born in Israel for age at first lambing (435 and 428 days), percent of ewes lambing (96), lambing interval (280 and 293 days), mature body weight (80.5 and 77.4), lambs born/lambing (1.40 and 1.59 at first and 1.71 and 1.75 at 2nd to 5th lambings), lamb mortality (9.9 and 12.2 p. 100), or milk production per lactation (211 and 192 kg) in first lactation. Mean milk yields in 2nd to 5th lactation were 270 ± 18 and 219 ± 16 kg, respectively (P < 0.05). Chios lambs grew significantly slower compared with the Assaf and crossbred lambs. There were no significant differences between Assaf and crossbred lambs. Least squares mean slaughter yields (p. 100 of live weight) for Assaf and ChAs lambs were 47.6 and 47.4 (NS) for hot carcass, 1.36 and 2.03 (P < 0.002) for the tail and 3.55 and 3.78 (NS) for kidney + caul fat, respectively. Mean lung infection scores (scale : 0-4) after slaughter were 1.46 and 1.88 (NS) for Assaf and ChAs in autumn-born lambs, and 1.20, 2.88 and 2.10 (P < 0.05) for Chios, Assaf and ChAs lambs, respectively, born in the spring.