| Summary: | This study examined the relationship between <i>GHE5</i> polymorphisms and growth and carcass characteristics of meat-type sheep breeds reared in Turkey. A total of 202 lambs were tested, consisting of five breeds. By SSCP analysis and nucleotide sequencing, 14 nucleotide changes (12 substitutions and two deletions) were identified in four variants of <i>GHE5</i>. In the coding region of <i>GHE5</i>, five substitutions occur, including c.1588C>Y(C/T) (Ala160Val), c.1603A>M(A/C), c.1604G>S(G/C) (Lys165Thr), c.1606A>W(A/T) (Gln166Leu), and c.1664C>Y(C/T). <i>P3</i> female and <i>P1</i> male lambs had the highest rump height at weaning, whereas <i>P3</i> females and <i>P2</i> males had the highest chest depth (<i>p</i> < 0.05). At yearling, <i>P1</i> variant lambs have longer body length (BL; <i>p</i> < 0.05), wider leg circumferences, and thinner cannon bone perimeter (CBP) (<i>p</i> > 0.01), in contrast to <i>P2</i> variant lambs, which have a shorter BL and thicker CBP. Furthermore, <i>P2</i> had a greater percentage of neck, shoulder, and leg, <i>P1</i> had a greater percentage of loin, and <i>P3</i> had a greater percentage of rack, but there was no significant difference between them. A marker-assisted selection approach can be used to improve sheep carcass quality traits by taking advantage of the nucleotide substitutions found on <i>GHE5</i> and the detected differences between variants.
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