Morphological traits of the development of the skin and wool cover in sheep of Prikatunsky meat and wool type

Abstract

A large number of works are devoted to the development of the skin and hair cover of sheep, depending on their breed affiliation, age, feeding conditions and housing. The authors point out that along with other conditions the quality of wool and wool clip is greatly influenced by the conditions of the feeding of animals. A high level of feeding increases the wool clip and improves the quality of the wool and vice versa a low level reduces, causes thinning and worsens other physical properties of the wool. As is known, one of the significant factors that determine the increase in wool clip is the size of the animal and, consequently, the total area of the skin. The purpose of the research was to investigate the morphological traits of the development of the skin and wool cover in sheep of Prikatunsky meat and wool type. The research material was wool samples from four topographic areas of the animal’s body (side/thigh/back/belly) and skin (side) of different sex and age groups, selected from the animals of the studied groups. In the course of research, the quality of wool and indicators of the histostructure of the skin of Prikatunsky meat and wool type of sheep have been investigated. In terms of thick-haired of wool, replacement rams and gimbers of Prikatunsky meat and wool type of sheep were superior by 4,82 pcs. per mm² or 19,0 % and 4,41 pcs. per mm² or 15,8 % of adult animals, respectively. Balance secondary follicles/primary follicles in young animals were higher by 10,3 and 17,3 % compared to breeding rams and ewes. The wool of the replacement young animals was thinner by 7,28 and 4,78 microns and they were more thick-haired. The obtained data will be used in the mating campaign when mating program rams in order to improve the sheep of Prikatunsky meat and wool type.

The Dorper breed as a stage in the sustainable development of the agroindustry

“…The quality of sheep breeding products of these sheep has not been studied enough, and research at the microstructural level is practically completely absent, although sheep breeding in this direction plays a decisive role in providing the population of certain regions with good quality lamb and can provide valuable raw materials for the fur-coat industry in the form of sheepskins, from which high-quality fur semi-finished products (Pogodaev et al, 2019). The issues of expanding the range of semi-finished fur products of a higher quality level must be addressed in conjunction with the problems of improving the quality of raw materials (Dmitrik et al, 2014).…”