Abstract

Thangaraj Ravimurugan, A.K Thiruvenkadan, Krovvidi Sudhakar and S. Panneerselvam

Southern zone of Tamil Nadu is the habitat of different indigenous sheep breeds viz. Kilakarsal, Ramnad White, Vembur, Chevaadu, Katchakatty and Pattanam. Many of these are dwindling due to cross breeding / indiscriminate breeding over the years for enhancement of production. An exhaustive survey on evaluation and phenotypic characterization of existing indigenous sheep breeds have been undertaken in the southern agro climatic zone of Tamil Nadu. Information on husbandry practices was collected through personal observations and interaction with flock owners. Body measurements and body weight were recorded on 2109 sheep. The overall means for body length, height at withers and heart girth of adult males from Chevaadu, Katchakatty, Kilakarsal, Ramnad White, Vembur and Pattanam breeds 68.73 ± 0.48, 61.64 ± 0.70 and 73.68 ± 0.64; 58.83 ± 0.58, 66.83 ± 0.45 and 69.66 ± 0.50; 56.48 ± 1.02, 69.79 ± 1.33 and 75.28 ± 1.43; 66.82 ± 0.87, 74.22 ± 0.71 and 81.65 ± 0.82; 67.50 ± 0.58, 80.00 ± 0.20 and 84.25 ± 0.99 and 85.58 ± 0.58, 72.80 ± 0.49 and 93.65 ± 0.35 cm respectively and adult females were 55.17 ± 0.58, 65.78 ± 0.56 and 70.71± 0.63; 56.85 ± 0.36, 64.14 ± 0.31 and 69.85 ± 0. 45; 57.52 ± 0.42, 69.94 ± 0.40 and 71.76 ± 0.45; 60.07 ± 0.49, 70.80 ± 0.46 and 74.50 ± 0.53; 59.96 ± 0.55, 75.56 0.52 and 76.84 ± 0.59 and 70.05 ± 0.45, 80.65 ± 0.65 and 78.34 ± 0.35 cm respectively. The sheep genetic resources in this region are able to survive on poor feeding resources and yet contribute to the rural poor farmer’s livelihood security. Therefore these unique indigenous breeds need to be conserved.