Fat-tailed Balbas sheep of the south-eastern part of Azerbaijan and the quality of tail fat

In the Republic of Azerbaijan and in particular in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, the transhumance system of keeping sheep has long been adopted, which requires animals with a strong constitution, hardy and well adapted to local natural and climatic conditions. These requirements are best met by the local meat - wool - milk fat-tailed Balbas breed of sheep, which produces high-quality white wool for carpet production, mutton with excellent taste qualities, milk and sheepskins. In recent years, in order to improve the productive qualities of Balbas sheep, they began to use intra-breed rams of the local semi-coarse wool breed. Therefore, there was a need for a comparative study of the productive qualities of Balbas sheep and their crossbreeds.