INHERITANCE OF MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HAIR FOLLICLES AND WOOL FIBER IN SHEEP OF THE ARTLUKH MERINO BREED

Abstract

It took many years of significant selective breeding work with the Dagestan Mountain
sheep breed in the agricultural production co-operative breeding farm “Krasny Oktyabr” in
Kazbekovsky District, the Republic of Dagestan in order to develop the Artlukh merino
breed. However, the morphological characteristics of skin and the nature of individual histological structures inheritance of skin of both original breeds and the Artlukh merino breed
have not been sufficiently studied so far. Meanwhile, the peculiarities of the skin cover determine the level and quality of wool productivity of sheep and serve as a biological basis for
the development of effective selective breeding techniques.
This article presents the results of the study on the development parameters of hair follicles and wool fiber of the Artlukh merino sheep breed in comparison with the Dagestan
Mountain breed. The experimental material was mature sheep and young animals of these
breeds.
It was found that rams of the Dagestan Mountain breed had greater diameter of the
bulbs of the primary and secondary follicles by 3.6 and 10.1%, respectively. This superiority
among ewes was 23.4 and 18.8%. The diameter of the primary follicles in the Dagestan
Mountain breed was larger by 9.7% (rams) and 35.4% (ewes) compared to the sheep of the
Artlukh merino breed. The diameter of the secondary follicles also prevailed by 17.1% (rams)
and 42.7% (ewes). The variation coefficient of primary follicles diameter was higher than
secondary follicles diameter. The diameter of the primary fiber of the Dagestan Mountain
breed was larger by 3.6% (rams) and 7.6% (ewes). This advantage of the diameter of the secondary fiber was 18.1% and 5.6%, in rams and ewes, respectively.
Thus, the above data allow us to conclude that the Dagestan Mountain and Artlukh
merino sheep breeds differ a lot in the diameter of the hair bulbs, follicles and the fiber produced by them, in the shape of the bulbs and hair papillae of the primary and secondary follicles.