Indicators of zootechnical evaluation of fur coat and meat type sheep

Abstract

Nowadays, due to the current economic situation in the Republic, the sheep breeding of Belarus is developing intensively, since there is a need for mutton in the global market. In some regions, work is already underway to create a promising herd of sheep with high meat productivity. An obligatory element of breeding activities is the evaluation of stud rams for the quality of the progeny, the accuracy of which determines the effectiveness of the selection process. The article contains the results on the development of zootechnical rules for evaluation of selection traits of the Romanov breed sheep that was conducted at the RUE “Vitebsk breeding enterprise”. The object of research was purebred Romanov breed animals that had been used in pedigree breeding since 2017. As a result of research, parameters for sheep ranking by a set of selection traits, algorithms for determining individual and complex estimated breeding values of rams, ewes, and young animals were developed. This will allow the most rational zootechnical measures and evaluation of fur coat and meat type breeding sheep.