Meat productivity of young edilbay rams of different breed types
The most important biological feature of meat-and-fat sheep breeds is earliness, intensive growth and development, effective transformation of feed into products, as well as the possibility of using animals for economic purposes at an early age. Representatives of domestic meat-and-fat sheep include such breed as Edilbay; which is successfully bred in various ecological zones of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Edilbay sheep are characterized by a wide ecological valence. This is evident from the fact that they have shown good adaptability to the conditions in all zones of Kazakhstan - their historical homeland. Comprehensive study in the comparative aspect of the biological and productive features of the Edilbay fat-tailed breed obtained from the mating of local ewes with producing rams of different genotypes is relevant and has both scientific and practical significance. This paper discusses the results of the control slaughter of eight-month young rams of the Edilbay breed obtained from various matchings of parental couples in the conditions of West Kazakhstan, where the indicators of meat productivity have been analyzed. Experimental animals of all studied groups are characterized by rather high rates of meat productivity, massiveness and roundness of forms, with well-developed muscles and uniform fat coating. After feeding and slaughtering at the age of eight months, carcasses weighing 19.3-20.7 kg were obtained, with the prevailing number of offsprings from the Brlyk sheep. It should be noted that the Syundik sheep offsprings got an intermediate position by their number. It is also obvious that offsprings obtained from the Brlyk rams are marked by higher slaughter mass and meat productivity as compared to those obtained from the Syundyk and Kurmangazin rams.