Characteristics of lambskins production and body development in Karakul sheep

Абстракт

The present research has focused at testing, selecting and maintaining the required quality of the lambskins production in lambs of the Karakul breed, depending on their colors. The studies were carried out over three years, evaluating the quality classes of the skins, the types of curls, the silkiness and gloss of the hair cover, as well as the body development of the sheep from the breeding nucleus, by sex and age groups.

During 2022 - 2024, at the bonitation of Karakul lambs carried out 1 - 2 days after lambing, a total of 1 025 lambs were evaluated, including 430 black lambs (42.0%), 202 grey lambs (19.7%), and 393 Buhar-type lambs (38.3%). Over the study period, the proportion of elite-class lambs was 32.7%, class I – 54.7%, class II – 10.2%, and class III (reject) – 2.4%. According to curl type, the largest share belonged to lambs with a flat type (45.5%), followed by the ribbed type (38.9%). Lambs with the classical jacket curl type accounted for 11.6%. Research on the quality of the pilosity, including silkiness and luster, revealed a significant improvement in quality indices for grey and light-grey lambs in 2022 (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001), and in 2023, only luster has improved significantly (P < 0.01) in greyish lambs.

The body weight of adult sheep and young stock of various ages (2024) exceeded the minimum breed standard requirements. In the selection nucleus, 4 breeding rams were selected with an average body weight of 97.43 kg, the selection intensity being 80%. From the ewe group, 405 heads were selected with an average body weight of 59.4 kg and a selection intensity of 95.3%. All 3 yearling rams were selected with an average body weight of 76.9 kg and a selection intensity of 100%. Yearling ewes of the same age were selected with an average body weight of 56.78 kg, the selection intensity being 87.4%. Among 6-month-old ram lambs, 3 heads were selected with an average body weight of 45.7 kg and a selection intensity of 75.0%. In addition, 124 ewe lambs aged 6 months were selected with an average body weight of 35.27 kg and a selection intensity of 83.2%.