Evaluation of cross breeding program involving Tsigai with Romney-Marsh and halfbred Lincoln-Tsigai breeds of sheep in dry steppe zone of Russia
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: The experiment of crossing Tsigai ewes with Romney-Marsh and with the half-breed Tsigai-Lincoln rams in the southern dry steppes is described.1873 Tsigai ewes were used in the experiment.They were artificially inseminated with 12 rams.Four Tsigai, four Romney-Marsh and four half-breed Lincoln-Tsigai rams were used for the experiment.1930 lambs were born.By random sampling technique 300 purebred and 300 crossbred 2 months old lambs were selected for weighing.The Tsigai rams were heavier than the crossbred ones by 0.8 kg and the ewe-lambsby 2.0 kg, respectively.Then, individual records for 997 experimental ewe-lambs were carried out up to eighteen months.It was found that purebred progeny is more productive and viable than crossbred one.By the time of weaning, 4 months old purebred lambs were heavier than the crossbred ones by 1.7 kg.At a year old, the Tsigai sheep were 0.7 kg heavier than the crossbred Tsigai-Romni-Marsh, and 2.67 kg heavier than the half breed Lincoln-Tsigai.According to the wool clip at one year of age, these differences were 0.17 and 0.19 kg, respectively.The wool length of the crossbred ewe-lambs was 0.50 and 0.47 cm longer, but their wool in this indicator had greater variability, which is undesirable for homogenous wool.Crossbreds were also inferior according to the features expressed in points: class by 0.38 and 2.67 points, viability -0.38 and 0.56 points and consolidated estimate -1.79 and 3.26 points.When estimating all 12 rams for the complex of useful progeny features, two reliable improvers both Tsigai were found.Four reliable deteriorators were also identified, two of which were Romney-Marsh and two half breed Tsigai-Lincoln.All rams were kept in a special sheepherd in good conditions.Observing the Romney-Marsh (4 heads) and half breed Lincoln-Tsigai (4 heads) rams showed that they were constantly depressed, fell behind the Tsigai rams on the pasture, in moving and even at camps.The main conclusion of the experiment is that crossbreds are significantly inferior to Tsigai sheep in their viability, which is very important to know when breeding sheep in the harsh conditions of dry steppes and semi-deserts.The experiment gives ground to confirm that crossbreeding Tsigai sheep with Romney-Marsh and Lincoln cannot be achieved, at least, in the conditions of dry steppes.This zone doesn't require searching for countless combinations of breeds for crossbreeding because the analysis shows that experiment results are not as theoretically expected.
Source: Journal of Livestock Science
Authors: V.D. Milchevskiy, A.M. Gadzhiev, A.N. Doeva, V.S. Gappoeva, B.S. Nikkolova
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3080550227