CORRELATIONS OF LIVE WEIGHT AND WOOL PRODUCTIVITYOF KYRGYZ MOUNTAIN MERINO SHEEP

Abstract
The study of correlations between live weight and wool productivity indicators in Kyrgyz
mountain merino sheep has been conducted, taking into account the sex and age groups and
the breeding origin of the animals. The material was the data of sheep bonitation in 2022, obtained
in the conditions of two breeding plants — the State Breeding Farm “Orgochor” and the State
Breeding Farm named after M. N. Lushchikhin. The analysis included 24-month-old ewes, as well
as 16-month-old young ewes and rams. The authors have studied the indicators of live weight, washed
and unwashed fleece weight, staple length and fiber finess. The relationships between the features
were evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficients.

It has been found out that in all the studied groups, live weight is characterized by a stable
positive relationship with fleece weight, while the maximum closeness of correlations has been found
out in 16-month-old young ewes. It is shown that the orientation and severity of the relationship
between live weight and quality indicators of wool vary significantly depending on the breeding plant,
reflecting differences in the breeding orientation of farms. In a number of groups, both positive and
weak or negative correlations of live weight with the staple length and the fiber finess were revealed.
However, no stable antagonism between live weight growth and the quality of the wool fiber was
established.

The study results confirm the expediency of an integrated and differentiated use of live weight
in breeding programs focused on the combination of meat and wool productivity of Kyrgyz mountain
merino sheep.

Keywords: Kyrgyz mountain merino, live weight, wool characteristics, correlation analysis,
wool shearing, wool quality, sex and age groups, breeding assessment