Meat performance of sheep balbas breeds in the southeastern part of Azerbaijan

In the Republic of Azerbaijan and, in particular, in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, a transhumance system for keeping sheep has long been adopted, which requires animals with a strong constitution, hardy and well adapted to local climatic conditions. These requirements are best met by the local meat-wool-milk fat-tailed Balbas sheep breed, which produces high-quality white wool for carpet production, lamb with excellent taste, milk and sheepskins. But the quality of meat products from these animals has not yet been sufficiently studied. Based on this, the following tasks were set; obtaining offspring from females of the Balbas breed of the local population and local rams of the same breed; studying the meat productivity and quality of these types of products in offspring, studying the economic efficiency of slaughtering offspring at different age periods. In the process of work, the chemical composition and energy value of the meat was determined, and by looking at the longissimus dorsi muscle, its chemical composition, energy and biological value were determined. The study of the slaughter qualities of animals, determination of the chemical composition, energy and biological value of meat was carried out in accordance with the methodological recommendations of VIZH. In conclusion, the authors concluded that the meat productivity of sheep is quite high. Control slaughters carried out over many years have shown that their slaughter yield under normal economic conditions is on average 46-52%. Sheep of this breed have stable heredity and well pass on their valuable biological and economically useful qualities to their offspring, both when bred pure and when crossing crosses. The greatest economic efficiency was obtained when selling 8-month-old balbas rams.