Influence of constitutional and productive indices on wool productivitty of rams of Russian meat merino and Soviet merino breeds

The study of differences in the sheep wool of different breeds, which allows to obtain an objective description of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics that can be used in the selection process, is of some interest in scientific and practical terms. The materials of the study of the nature of variability and correlative relationships between the most important economically useful features (live weight, type and folding of the skin, haircut, length, fineness, density and tortuosity of wool) in sheep-producers of Russian meat merino and Soviet merino breeds are given. It is established that the minimum and maximum indicators of productivity and quality of wool are different: the live weight of ewes of the Russian meat merino and Soviet merino breed are from 45 to 70 kg; cut dirty wool is from 4.5 to 10.0 kg; wool length is from 8.0 to 11.5 cm; wool tone is from 17.0 to 24.5 μm; the number of twists per 1 cm of staple length is from 3 to 9 cm; type of folding is from normal to high The relationship of wool productivity with the length of wool shows that in sheep of the Russian meat merino breed the largest cut of washed wool is obtained from animals with a length of 9.0-10.0 cm, and in sheep of the Soviet Merino breed - from 8.5 to 9.5 cm (r = + 0.28). The analysis of the wool fineness showed that in sheep of the Soviet Merino breed there is a direct relationship between the diameter of wool fibers and the cutting of both the original and washed wool (r = + 0.28, r = + 0.20), the largest cut of washed fiber have rams of the Soviet Merino breed (20.6-25.0 μm). There is rather a significant diversity in a number of features among elite sheep-producers, on the example of the SPK herd of the collective farm named after Lenin of the Stavropol Territory, which indicates the possibility of further increasing productivity and improving the quality of wool through careful selection of animals into these groups and the need for a more detailed study of the relationships and heritability of traits in these populations.