Abstract
<jats:p>Many sheep breeder scientists have conducted studies to prove the effectiveness of industrial crossbreeding, however, it is important to note, while breeding sheep, the choice of the paternal breed plays an important role in increasing productivity and in improving the quality of mutton. The purpose of this research is to study the meat productivity, morphological and chemical parameters of the meat of Dagestan fine–fleeced ram lambs and their crossbreeds obtained by industrial crossing with the Dorper breed. The research was conducted in the conditions of ‘Sogratl’ Agricultural Company of the Gunibsky district of the Republic of Dagestan. It is established that in terms of slaughter performance, crossbred ram lambs outperformed purebred ones in terms of carcass weight by 13.3%, and in terms of slaughter yield by 2.1 absolute percent. The yield of boneless meat of the carcass in both groups corresponded to the standards of Category I. The specific weight of the boneless meat in crossbreeds was 80.6%, and in Dagestan Mountain – 79.5%, the difference was 1.1 absolute percent. The meat of the ram lambs of both groups corresponded to the standards of the Category 1. The protein-qualitative index of muscle tissue in the crossbred ram lambs was 4.3, which is 0.4 more than in the purebred animals. The tryptophan content in the meat of the crossbreeds was 277.2 mg/%, which is 43.5 mg/% more than in the purebred sheep. In terms of the oxyproline content in meat, the crossbred ram lambs had 64.7 mg/%, which is 4.8 mg/% more than the purebred ram lambs had. The study of the meat productivity of Dagestan Mountain ram lambs and their crossbreds obtained by crossing with the Dorper breed has shown the advantage of the crossbred ram lambs in terms of the basic slaughter parameters and the chemical composition of meat over the purebred peers. The research has established that in sheep farms it is advisable to use interbreeding of ewe of the Dagestan Mountain fine-fleeced breed with rams of the Dorper breed to increase meat productivity, improve meat yield and quality of lamb meat.</jats:p>