Biological and productive features of Kyrgyz mountain merino breed types in different climatic zones

Abstract

The problem of global climate change on the planet requires the most effective use of the bioclimate to develop a production technology corresponding to the natural potential. The present research is aimed at studying the impact of climatic zones on sheep productivity to identify the resources of wool and mutton production. The research was conducted on sheep of fine-wool breed. The analysis and methods of variation statistics of digital data were used in the research. The significance criterion of the difference between the mean values is calculated by means of the MS Excel 2000 software. The external phenotypic indicators, meat (live weight) and wool (clip), productivity of 8,056 sheep in 13 flocks of Issyk-Kul, 24 flocks of Talas, and 10 flocks of South Kyrgyz sheep type for the period from 2012 to 2016 were used. By live weight (X±SX=58.20±0.31; CV=4.98;) ewes of the Issyk-Kul type surpass their ewes from other climatic zones with a significant difference (P<0.01; P<0.05). The research results enable farmers and livestock breeders to make the best use of existing sheep adaptation strategies and take climate change into account when developing and implementing agricultural policies.