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*Corresponding author’s e-mail: dibyendu_vet40@yahoo.co.in.

Phenotypic characterization of Purky sheep population of Kargil districtK. Mehdi Khan, N. Kumar, D. Chakraborty*, Isfaq Faried, Rajan Sharma, S. N. Bhatt, D. Kumar and R. K. Taggar

Division of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu,R. S. Pura- 181 102, Jammu & Kashmir, India.Received: 29-12-2015 Accepted: 03-09-2016 DOI:10.18805/ijar.v0i0f.3794

ABSTRACTMajority of the Kargil sheep populations are indigenous. Very scanty information is available for morphologicalcharacterization of Purky sheep population. Therefore, the present study was undertaken with the objectives to study themorpho-metric characteristics and body measurements for phenotypic characterization of the local sheep. A stratifiedrandom sample survey was conducted on various parameters (horn size, tail size, chest girth, punch girth, body length,height at wither and body weight) in seven different age groups. Data were collected randomly from 510 sheep of eithersex. The local sheep population of Kargil which was selected for the present investigation is named as ‘Purky’ by the nameof the community that reared this breed. In Purky sheep white body colour was predominant in both the sexes. The sheepbreed was of low to medium body weight. The chest girth, punch girth, height at withers of Purky sheep showed it to bemedium sized. Sex had significant effect (P<0.05) on height at wither only. For males the least squares means were higherfor all the traits of all age groups baring few exceptions. The phenotypic correlations of age groups with different morpho-metric traits were very high. The phenotypic correlations of body weight with other body measurements like tail size, chestgirth, paunch girth, body length and height at wither were very high. Further studies should be carried out to fully exploittheir genetic potential and to register the breed and in-situ conservation of this population.

Key words: Characterization, Kargil, Morpho-metric traits, Purky sheep.

INTRODUCTIONKargil is one of the harshest places in Jammu &

Kashmir state of India with seasonal fluctuations intemperature -48° C in winter and +35° C in summer. It issurrounded by Baramullah, Srinagar and Doda districts inthe south-west, Leh district in the east, Himachal Pradesh inthe south and Pakistan in the north-west. Kargil isgeographically located at 75° 31´ East longitudes and 32°22´ North latitude. Sheep provide income, employment andfood security to the resource poor farmers and people of thearea. The local sheep population is known as Purky. Theword ‘Purky’ is derived from two different words “Pot”means ‘Tibetan’ and “Riks” means ‘Race’. Most of the peopleof Kargil district belong to Tibetan race and the dialectwhich speaks in this region is also known as Purky. In Kargildistrict majority of the community belongs to Purky tribe.These Purky people use to rear this local sheep from thebeginning of Purky tribe existence. Hence, this local sheepis recognized as ‘Purky’ by the name of the communitythat rears.

On the area 90-95% household keep the Purkysheep. The sheep population is mainly reared for muttonpurpose. The flock size in the house is very less and it variesfrom 5-20 animals only in each house. The sheep keepersare mainly landless to marginal farmers. The sheeppopulation is generally reared on natural pasture (Fig 1).

During winter season they are provided with hay fodder orstorage fodder but no commercial feeding is practised.

Very scanty information is available on themorphological evaluation/characterization of this population.Therefore, the present study was under taken for phenotypiccharacterization of local sheep (Purky) in the home tract.This population is has not yet been systematicallycharacterized, hence no efforts have been made for itsimprovement or conservation.MATERIALS AND METHODS

A stratified random sample survey was conductedon various parameters in six different administrative blocksof Kargil district namely Sankoo, Kargil, Shargole, Drass,Shakarchiktan and TSG. From each block, five villages wereselected randomly for the present study where the largenumber population of the local sheep was available.Randomly 17 sheep of either sex were taken from eachvillage and for morpho-metric traits (body length, chest girth,pauch girth, body length and height at wither) were collected.The data was classified in to two sex groups (male & female)and seven different age groups on the basis of teeth numbers.

To study the effect of sexes, age groups and sex-age groups interaction on different morph-metric andperformance traits data was analyzed by Harvey (1987) usingfollowing modelYijk = µ+Si+Aj+Si*Aj+eijk

Indian J. Anim. Res., 51 (4) 2017 : 625-629Print ISSN:0367-6722 / Online ISSN:0976-0555

626 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH

Where,Yijk =the observation of kth sheep of ith sex on jth age group, µ= overall mean, Si = effect of ith sex, Aj = effect of jth sex,Si*Aj= effect of interaction between ith sex and jth age group,eijk = random error associated with each observation.

The least squares mean were compared by usingDuncan’s multiple rage test (DMRT) as modified by Kramer(1957).RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONMorphological characteristics: Purky sheep is mediumsized sheep breed with stumpy legs. In Purky sheep fourdifferent body colours white, black, brown and black & whitewere noted (Fig. 2). Among these white body colour waspredominant in both the sexes. The overall percentage ofwhite, black, brown and black & white colours were 64.41%,27.97%, 5.93% and 1.69%, respectively in the present study.The head of Purky sheep was slightly convex from lateralview in all animals. The ear is short and slightly pendulous.Horn is present only in males with a range of its length as16-25 cm. Females are polled. It indicates that horn trait inPurky sheep is probably a sex-influenced trait. Orientationsof horn were backward curved outward forward, backwarddownward, downward, backward outward forward, upwardand backward. The horn shape in Purky Sheep varied fromcurved to straight. Arora et al. (2010) reported similar hornsize in Ganjam sheep breed of India. However, lowerestimates for horn size were observed in Barbados BlackBelly Cross and Garut composite in Indonesia (Handiwirawnet al., 2011). On the other hand, higher estimates for hornsize were reported by (Handiwirawn et al., 2011) and (Rajaet al., 2012) in Indonesia and India for Garut Local andRamnad White sheep respectively. Size of the tail is smallto medium. The adult tail size in the population was 17.72 ±0.32 cm. The body was covered with coarse type of woolirrespective of sex and age.

Fig 1: Grazing of Purky at natural pasture

The coefficient of variation of different morpho-metric traits in the population were low to medium. Itindicates that the trait variability is very low in the populationirrespective of age.Body weight: Body weights of Purky sheep at different agesand both the sexes are presented in Table 1. The overall bodyweight of adult sheep (> 48 months) was 41.30 ± 0.34 kgshowing this population to be of medium body weight.Similar body weight was reported in Djallonke sheep ofNorthern Ghana irrespective of age and sex (Birteeb et al.,2012). Still lower estimates for body weight were found inMuzaffarnagari, Pugal, Munjal sheep (Dass et al., 2008;Dass, 2008 and Yadav et al., 2011). Higher body weightwas reported in Sahel sheep breeds of Northern Ghana(Birteeb et al., 2012). The results and comparing values ofbody weight with different breeds indicate that Purky sheepcan be grouped in medium sized sheep types.Body measurements: The overall mean for chest girth was83.24 ± 0.40 cm in more than 48 month age group. The adult(> 48 months) males had greater chest girth compared tofemales. The chest girth of adult animals indicates that theanimal is of medium size. Das et al. (2008) and Asfaw (2012)reported lower estimates for chest girth in Pugal sheep in itshome tract for different age groups and Sidama sheep,respectively. Higher estimates were recorded by Yadav etal. (2011), Raja et al. (2012) and Handiwirawn et al. (2011)in Munjal, Ramnad White sheep and Garut composite,respectively.

The results presented in Table 1 indicate that paunchgirth of the Purky sheep is of medium sized and the height atwither of Purky sheep is medium. Lower estimation ofpaunch girth was reported in Ramnad White sheep of India(Raja et al., 2012). Whereas, (Yadav et al., 2011) in Munjalsheep the higher estimate for paunch girth was reported.

Analysis of variance for different morpho-metrictraits showed that sex had significant effect (P<0.05) on

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628 INDIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL RESEARCH

height at wither only. The age groups had highly significanteffect (P<0.01) on all the morpho-metric traits (horn size,tail size, chest girth, punch girth, body length, height at witherand body weight). The sex and age group interactionhad significant effect on body length and height at wither.For males the least squares means were higher for all thetraits.Phenotypic correlation and regressions: The phenotypiccorrelations of age groups with different morpho-metric traitswere very high and ranged from 0.60 ± 0.04 to 0.96 ± 0.15for age groups with tail size and age group with body weight,respectively (Table 2). The phenotypic correlation of bodyweight with other body measurements like tail size, chestgirth, paunch girth, body length and height at wither werevery high. Chest girth had phenotypic correlation rangingfrom 0.83 ± 0.07 to 0.96 ± 0.15 with other bodymeasurements. Mehta et al. (1995) reported high phenotypiccorrelation of body weight with height, body length, chestgirth and paunch girth in Malpura sheep. The regression

Table 2: Phenotypic correlations among different morpho-metric traits of Purky sheepAge TS CG PG BL HW BW

Age - 0.62 ± 0.04 0.92 ± 0.10 0.82 ± 0.06 0.84 ± 0.07 0.77 ± 0.05 0.96 ± 0.15TS - 0.63 ± 0.04 0.60 ± 0.03 0.58 ± 0.03 0.58 ± 0.03 0.64 ± 0.04CG - 0.90 ± 0.09 0.87 ± 0.08 0.83 ± 0.07 0.96 ± 0.15PG - 0.86 ± 0.07 0.81 ± 0.06 0.87 ± 0.08BL - 0.90 ± 0.09 0.90 ± 0.09HW - 0.83 ± 0.07

Fig 2: Different body colour pattern for Purky sheep

coefficients of body weight on different age groups like chestgirth, paunch girth, body length and height at wither werehigh (Table 3). Similar findings of regression of body weighton height, body length, chest girth and paunch girth wasreported by Mehta et al. (1995) in Malpura sheep.

Purky sheep is an important sheep genetic resourcein its habitat. Although, sheep flocks are maintained by thefarmers without any scientific management breedingpractices on depleted pasture, even sometimes in scarcity ofpasture during heavy snowfall in winter, without anysupplementary feeding, it contributes substantially to the

Table 3: Regression of body weight on different parametersParameters Regression R2 (%)

Age 0.56 ± 0.01 91.93Chest girth 0.77 ± 0.01 91.41Pauch girth 0.62 ± 0.01 75.80Body length 0.99 ± 0.02 81.10Height at wither 1.05 ± 0.03 67.98

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income of poor tribes rearing them. Due to the extensive useof Karakul and Merino sheep breeds for crossbreeding toget the fine wool this breed wool is under threat. Awarenessamong farmer can be created by providing training for betterhealth and management practices. The farmers should be

provided enough market facilities and remunerations forwool and other products. That will help to enhance farmers’interest to rear this breed in its home tract without any breeddilution and will also help to conserve the breed in its hometract by following, in-situ conservation.

REFERENCESArora, R., Bhatia, S. and Jain, A. (2010). Morphological and genetic characterization of Ganjam sheep. Animal Genetic

Resources, 46: 1-9.Asfaw, T. S. (2012). Production system and phenotypic characterization of indigenous sheep breeds in sidama and gedeo

zones of snnprs. School of Animal & Range Science. 15: 45Birteeb, P. T., Peters, S. O., Yakubu, A., Adeleke, M. A. and Ozoje, M. O. (2012). Multivariate characterisation of the

phenotypic traits of Djallonke and Sahel sheep in Northern Ghana. Tropical Animal Health Production. 45:267-74

Dass, G. (2008). Characterization and evalvation of Pugal sheep in home tract. Indian Journal of Animal Science, 78:501-504.

Dass, G., Prasad, H., Mandal, A., Singh, M. K. and N, P. (2008). Growth characters of Muzaffarnagri sheep under semiintensive feeding management. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences, 78: 1032-1033.

Handiwirawan, D., Noor, R. R., Sumantri, C. and Ubandriyo. (2011). The differentiation of sheep breed based on bodymeasurements. Journal of Indonesian Tropical Animal Agriculture, 36: 1-8.

Harvey, W. R. (1987). Mixed model least squares and Maximum likelihood computer program. January, 1987.Kramer C Y. (1957). Extension of multiple range test to group-correlated adjusted means. Biometrics 13: 13-18.Mehta, S.C., Vij, P.K., Joshi, B.K., Sahai, R. and Nivsarkar, A.E. (1995). Cheracterization and conservation of the Malpura

sheep breed. Animal Genetic Resources Information, 16:75-82. (htt://openmed.nic.in/233/01/Malpura-FAO.pdf).Raja, N. K., Jain, A., Singh, G., Kumar, L., Yadav, K. H. and Arora, K. (2012). Ramnad White sheep-Phenotypic and

genetic characterization. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences, 82: 1082–1086.Yadav, D., Arora, R., Bhatia, S. and Singh, G. (2011). Morphological characterization, production and reproduction status

of Munjal -A threatened sheep population of North-West India. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences, 81: 943–945.