SLAUGHTERING QUALITIES OF HYBRID YOUNG STOCK OF SHEEP OF DIFFERENT GENOTYPES

Abstract

Meat production and quality in the young stock of sheep raised in Transbaikal Territory were studied depending on their genotypes and ages of slaughtering. Three groups of animals were observed: 1) hybrids of the first generation (1/2 Zabaikalskaya Fine-Fleece + 1/2 Kazakhskaya Half-Hair), 2) hybrids of the second generation on Kazakhskaya Half-Hair, 3) three-breed hybrids (1/4 Zabaikalskaya Fine-Fleece + 1/4 Kazakhskaya Half-Hair + 1/2 Kuchugurovskaya Rough-Wool). The experimental animals were under the same raising conditions. The three-breed individuals had advantages in the growth and development as well as in slaughtering qualities over their two-breed analogs of the first and second generation. The animals of the third group at 2.5 months of age was found to have a significant advantage in the average live weight over their contemporaries from the first and second groups by 6.1 and 5.2%, at 6.5 months of age by 5.7 and 0.9%, at 18 months of age by 10.9 and 5.5%, respectively. The slaughter yield in the three-breed young animals was higher than that in the hybrids of the first and second generation by 6.9 and 3.6%, respectively. The three-breed individuals were distinguished by the highest energy value of meat. The hybrid animals of the first generation at 4.5 and 18 months of age were remarkable for this characteristic, too. The fat-protein ratio was most optimal in meat from young gelded rams at 4.5 months of age.