Sheep - AgRIS

4.2 Distribution of type breeds in different agroclimatic region
i) North Western region
This region comprises the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat and the planes
of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Important breeds of sheep found in this region are
chokla, Nali, Pugal, Marwari, Malpura, Sonadi, Jaisalmeri, Patanwadi, Muzaffarnagri, Jalauni
and Hissardale. This region is the most important in the country for carpet wool production.
There was a slight decline in the total sheep population in the Chokla region (0.530
million, 1972 census and 0.511 million according to the 1977 census). Of these, adult males
and females were 0.049 and 0.352 million respectively. Although Chokla is perhaps the finest
carpet-wool breed, most Chokla wool is now being diverted to the worsted processing sector
for scarcity of fine apparel-wool in the country.
ii) Southern peninsular region
This region (semi-arid in central peninsular and hot humid region along the coast)
comprises of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and has
19.53 million (47.78%). sheep producing 9.68 million kg (28.0%) wool of which 9.22
million kg is below 36 S , mostly coloured and extremely coarse and hairly and only
about 0.06 million kg (Nilgiri wool) is above 48.
The important breeds of this region are Deccani/Bellari, Nellore, Mandya, Macheri,
Ramnad, Madras Red, Coimbatore, Hasan, Trichi black and Nilgiri. About 50% of the
population of sheep in this region does not produce any wool and the rest produce very coarse,
hairy and coloured fleeces. Most of the sheep except Nilgiri of this region are of meat type.
iii) Eastern Region
This region (hot and humid) includes Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Assam and other eastern
states and has 3.48 million (8.5%) sheep, producing 1.4 millionkg (2%) of wool, primarily of
below 36s quality. This region has no distinguished breeds of its own except in the case of
Bihar where Shahabadi and Chottanagpuri breeds are found. The sheep in this region are
primarily of meat type but for Arunachal Pradesh which has a small number of better wool
sheep. The quality of wool produced by the sheep ofthis region in general is small and
extremely coarse, coloured and of hairy quality.
iv) Northern Temperate Region
This region comprises of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and hilly parts of Uttat
Pradesh and has approximately 3.69 million (9.04% of the country's sheep population) sheep.
They produce about 3.08 million kg wool (8.27% of the country's wool production) of which
0.77 million kg is Of 36s to 46s quality suitable for carpets. The rest 2.32 million kg is of 48S
and above standard and is suitable for apparel and superior quality carpets. The important
breeds of this region are Rampur Bushair, Kashmir Valley, Gurez, Karnah and Gaddi. Around
1/3rd of sheep in J & K and about 15-20% in other parts of this region are expected to be the
crosses of native breeds with exotic fine wool breeds. They have been named as Kashmir
Merino in Jammu and Kashmir.
4.4.2 Biometrical measurement and performance
The efforts of Acharya (1981) to define some of the existing breeds are based on
consideration of agroclimatic region and the ype of sheep found therein and adult body weights
and linear biometry on representative sample of both sexes, and production performance, both
published and unpublished and personal surveys (Table 4.1 to 4.3).
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