Use of Morphometric and Phenotypic Indicators for Identification of Specials in Hybridization

The study was to study the biological characteristics of argali hybrids with domestic sheep as part of assessing the effectiveness of using phenotypic indicators to identify hybrids and crossbreeds of different genotype. To obtain hybrids, Argali (Ar) was used as the paternal form, and sheep of different breeds: Hissar (H), Tajik meat-greasy fleece (TMG), Romanov (R) breed were used as the maternal form. As a result of a series of crosses, hybrids with the following genotypes were obtained: ½ Hissar breed ¼ Argali ¾ Romanov breed (ArH); ½ Tajik meat - greasy fleece breed ¼ Argali ¾ Romanov breed (ArTMG). The control was pure-bred sheep of the Hissar (H) and Tajik meat and greasy fleece (TMG) breeds. Hybrid individuals and their purebred peers at birth and at the age of 12 months were evaluated Based on the data of linear measurements, body indices were determined. The hair structure of hybrid animals was studied in comparison with purebred peers. The difference in live weight between ArTMG hybrids and H sheep reached 4.3% (p ≤ 0.05), between ArTMG hybrids and TMG sheep - 20.9% (p ≤ 0.001). ArTMG hybrids were superior to pure breed ArTMG sheep in almost all linear measurements studied. Based on morphometric indicators, body indices, and wool structure, a cluster analysis was carried out. All the animals studied were divided into two clusters: (1) pure breed sheep of the Hissar breed and their hybrids with argali; (2) Tajik meat - greasy breed and their hybrids with argali.