ASSESSMENT OFABILITIES FOR MEAT PRODUCTION FOR HALF-BREEDS RESULTING FROM THE CROSSING OF AWASSI AND TIGAIE SHEEP

C-tin Pascal, I. Nechifor, C. Cristian, M. Florea

Abstract
   The purpose of the research was to carry out a real analysis of the capabilities on which meat production depends on two lots consisting of individuals of the Tigaie breed and respectively of the half-breed individuals resulting from the systematic crossing of the local Tigaie sheep with Awassi rams. The importance of research results from the fact that the half-breed population considered is in the seventh generation and is reproductively closed to fix the characters on which milk production depends. Since, in expressing the efficiency of the management system applied in sheep breeding, milk and meat contribute to about 82% of the achieved results, can also be a mark in the development of an improvement program that includes in its objectives also meat production.
   The biologic material subjected to fattening and subsequently to planned assessments, was made up of the youth of this year, males and females, and the fattening applied was semi intensive and had a total duration of 140 days with the following technological phases: accommodation (10 days), breeding and fattening (90 days) and finishing (40 days).
   The statistical data processing revealed that the difference between the two lots was insignificant for the carcass weight, significant for p≤0.05 for live weight and distinctly significant for p≥0.01 for the average yields at slaughter.
   When assessing the quality of the carcases, it was found that at the group formed from fattened youth belonging to the new sheep population (AWxTi) at a higher proportion were satisfied the requirements for the R class, while 60.66% of the Tigaie lambs expressed the requirements for the same class and only about 20% fulfilled the requirements for the U class.
   Based on the data obtained, it can be stated that in order to fix the final morphological type of the new sheep population it is necessary to include among the breeding selection objectives the characters on which meat production depends.

Key words: Awassi, Tigaie, sheep meat, genetic improvement, sheep carcasses