Identification of Intra-Breed Exterior-Constitutional Productive Types of Saryarka Sheep (Intra-Breed Zhanaarka Type)

Abstract

Background: The study of the biological and economic characteristics of various sheep breeds shows that within each of them there are animals that are heterogeneous in productivity, morphological and physiological characteristics, and constitute intra-breed types. The presence within the breed of several different constitutional-productive types, each of which has a number of valuable features, enriches the breed as a whole while maintaining valuable biological properties for the entire breed. The aim of this work is to identify intra-breed exterior–constitutional productive types of Saryarka sheep and study their productivity.

Methods: This experiment was carried out in the conditions of the breeding plant “Zhenis”, Zhanaarka district of the Karaganda region, where the best gene pool of the Saryarka breed of the intra-breed Zhanaarka type is concentrated.

Results: It was found that broad-bodied rams exceeded narrow-bodied animals in live weight and wool shearing by 8.1 and 14.2%, and ewes by 8.8 and 19.0%, respectively.

Conclusion: Visual determination of the exterior-constitutional types of lambs makes it possible to indicate the level of productivity of Zhanaarka sheep at an early age, directly when they are fed from their mothers, which in turn improves the accuracy of the assessment of animals by genotype.