Comparative Study Of Two Sheep Breeds Grown In Russia: The Fabp4 Gene Polymorphism And Fat Deposition

The laws of adipose tissue deposition and associative relationship between the FABP4 gene polymorphism and coarse wool sheep breeds as a genetic marker for the meat production quality have been studied. Methods: The research material was the Edilbay (n=500) and Kalmyk fat-tailed (n=500) sheep breeds. The FABP4 gene study was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with allele-specific primers. The PCR performance was detected by the gel electrophoresis. The alleles were identified by pyrosequencing. Results: The FABP4 gene studies conducted on the sheep population of these breeds on the Kirovsky breeding plant in the Yashkulsky rayon, the Republic of Kalmykia (Russian Federation) have determined only the homozygous form of the gene construct. The youngsters of Kalmyk fat-tailed breed were superior in terms of the weight of intramuscular and internal fat. The weight of their intramuscular fat was by 140 g more and of internal one by 40 g, or by 27.5 and 33.3%, respectively. Conclusion: The heterogeneity of Kalmyk fat-tailed sheep and, especially, Edilbay breed can be expected in Russia due to the diversity of breed resources used to create the Russian population of the Edilbay breed, as well as develop new approaches in breeding one of the most popular Russian sheep breeds widespread throughout the country. (C) 2020 Friends Science Publishers