Parameters of breeding traits of sheep of the new breed Artlukhsky merino
The planned breed for breeding in the Republic of Dagestan is Dagestan mountain breed. However, from sheep of this breed fine merino wool is not obtained, and the breeding of special merino breed for mountain and transhumant breeding system is an urgent problem. The purpose of the research was to characterize the main breeding traits in different sex and age groups of sheep of the new breed Artlukhsky merino, such as live weight, wool shearing and its qualitative parameters. Artlukhsky merino breed was bred by using Dagestan mountain breed on the ewes at the beginning stage of the rams of Stavropol breed, and at the final stage – Manych merino breed. The research of the parameters of the breeding traits has been made on elite and class I animals in the breeding farm of the APC “Krasny Oktyabr” in the Kazbekovsky area in the Republic of Dagestan. The live weight of sheep of different sex and age groups of the tested breed was 45–97 kg. The average fineness of wool fibers in adult rams was 23,3 microns (60 quality), in ewes – 22,9 microns (64 quality), in rams aged 12 months – 22,1 microns and young ewes – 20,9 microns (64 quality). The difference in the fineness of the wool on the side and thigh did not exceed one quality. The length of the wool fibers on the side on average in adult rams was at least 9,9 cm, in ewes – 9,4 cm, in young ewes – 10,2 cm and young rams – 10,4 cm. The yield of washed wool in the herd was at the level of 64 %, the fertility of ewes was 125 to 135 %. Thus, the indicators of the main selected traits in sheep of the new breed Artlukhsky merino are at the level of the best domestic breeds, such as Volgograd and Vyatka.