Breeding to increase the meat productivity of Russian meat merino sheep

Abstract

Here is presented the analysis of sheep meat productivity of the Russian meat Merino breed and the effectiveness of selection for large size of animals, the severity of meat forms, and their higher precocity is shown. The selection differential for live weight in animals of different gender and age groups was determined, which is 5.0-26.0 kg, or 10.0-32.5%. The number of Russian meat Merino sheep (n=1045) is characterized by the severity of meat forms (T5) and has a desirable type of physique, exterior and meat productivity (100%), which confirms the consolidation of the herd on this basis. It was found that the genetic resources of the herd allow young sheep to receive a high average daily increase in live weight (170.4 g) from birth to 4.5 months. It is experimentally proved that the offspring of the PMM breed with intensive feeding is characterized by a higher growth energy. It is noted that the descendants of meat Merino have a large carcass mass of 12.4%, a slaughter yield of 2.2 abs. percent and a meat content coefficient of 21.3%, compared to the Stavropol sheep breed of wool productivity. Experimental data confirm that the sheep’s meat of the Russian meat Merino breed is " marbled, has high quality and consumer properties.