Sheep - AgRIS

Based on the crossbreeding results, it is evident that the inferior carpet wool breeds like
Malpura, Sonadi, Muzaffarnagri, Jaisalmeri of North Western region may be improved for
better carpet quality by crossing them with exotic fine wool, dual or mutton breeds by
stabilizing the exotic inheritance at 50% followed by selection. The experience so far gained
after using dual- purpose breeds like corriedale indicates that it is difficult to handle this breed
under field conditions. On similar pattern the inferior carpet breeds in Southern peninsular and
Eastern regions, viz. Bellary, Deccani, Shahabadi and Chotanagpuri may also be improved for
better carpet quality by crossing them with exotic fine wool breeds and stabilizi ing the exotic
inheritance at 50%.
During the 4th Five Year Plan, the ICAR had sponsored an All India Coordinated Research
Project for fine wool with the objectives to develop superior fine wool breeds suited to different
agroclimatic regions of the country. The exotic breeds used for crossbreeding in this project
were Russian Merino and Rambouillet. The different Centres of the project were being
coordinated at the Central Sheep & Wool Research Institute (CSWRI), Avikanagar. The
emphasis was to study breed combination, level of exotic inherit ance, heterosis in production
traits, and problems involved in production traits and in interbreeding of crossbreds for
evolving new breeds from crossbred base. Some encouraging results have become available.
Two new synthetics (Chokla and Nali synthetics) for fine wool have been generated at the
CSWRI through the creation and evaluation of genetic groups, viz. F l ,F 2 ,5/8th and 3/4th
involving different combinations of exotic and native breeds in order to assess the prospective
targets in wool in semi-arid conditions of the country. The performance of various grades of
Chokla and Nali with Soviet Merino and Rambouillet and the new synthetics is given in Tables
6.7 and 6.8.
Table 6.7 Averages of greasy fleece weight and wool quality attributes of Chokla, Nali and
their crosses with Rambouillet/Merino
Genetic Average Medullation Staple First six Six monthly group fibre (%)
length monthly body weight
(cm) greasy fleece (kg)
weight
Chokla 23.12±0.35 25.14±0.05* 4.10±0.71 0.897±0.02 13.311±0.15 (79) (79)
(78) (439) (315)
Chokla (F 1 ) 20.56±0.19 10.70±0.03* 4.09±0.05 0.980±0.03 15.240±0.11
(196) (193) (98) (795) (749)
Chokla (F 2 ) 21.20±0.38 19.03±0.04 3.95±0.13 0.970±0.03 16.193±0.29
(33) (196) (82) (115) (124)
Chokla (5/8th) 20.80±0.57 15.23±0.06* 4.74±0.20 1.070±0.04 14.791±0.45
(33) (30) (19) (39) (41)
Chokla (3/4th) 20.03±0.42 11.92±0.04* 3.15±0.05 0.947±0.07 15.784±0.30
(63) (62) (56) (92) (104)
Nali 28.04±0.54 62.85±0.85* 4.44±0.11 0.953±0.37 13.85±0.15
(81) (81) (73) (341) (314)
Nali F 1 22.61±0.18 28.09±0.02* 4.48±0.05 0.998±0.03 14.820±0.09
(308) (308) (310) (1028) (954)
Nali F 2 21.79±0.28 27.74±0.03* 3.87±0.09 1.116±0.02 16.22±1.88
(159) (155) (153) (191) (206)
Nali 5/8th 21.97±0.51 23.76±0.07* 4.14±0.15 1.135±0.03 17.65±0.342
(44) (43) (53) (66) (67)
(44) (43) (53) (66) (67)
Nali 3/4th 19.29±0.48 11.37±0.05* 3.10±0.18 0.9532±.08 16.25±0.26
(61) (50) (64) (125) (132)
The wool attributer are at months of age. The wool quality assessed at 2nd clip (1 year) have
shown 6-13% reduction in medullation.
390