Phenotypic and genetic characteristics of the reindeer herd of the Yamal experimental station

This work is the phenotypic and genetic assessment of the reindeer herd of the Yamal Experimental Station being a separate structural subdivision of the Federal Research Center Tyumen Science Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The study population is shown to have all the external characteristics of the Nenets breed but genetically has the high level of allelic diversity, surpasses other populations of reindeer by the observed and expected heterozygosity, demonstrates minimum positive values of the fixation index. By the component analysis, the studied herd is similar to the animals of the Komi Republic and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and differs from other reindeer of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The data obtained can be used for the development of breeding programs in reindeer herding farms of various forms of ownership which will increase the economic efficiency of reindeer husbandry.