Chitarangi sheep: A new carpet type ovine genetic resource of north-western India

Abstract

Chitarangi, a lesser known carpet type wool sheep which inhabits Punjab and Rajasthan. The survey was conducted in order to characterize and evaluate the performance of this unexplored sheep population. The data on body biometry, phenotypic characters and other performance traits were collected based on personnel recording, observations and information provided by the sheep farmers. Shamaki wali, a more prevalent synonym for this sheep among the farmers, is derived from Shamaki village of Ghadsana mandi tehsil of Sriganganagar district. Farmers reported rearing this sheep since more than last 40-50 years. Chitarangi animals are medium to large in size. The coat colour is white. A red brown ring around eyes, patches on muzzle, red brown colour of distal half of the ear pinna and serration of various shape and depth in distal part of the ear pinna are distinct and distinguishing phenotypic characteristic of this breed. The light brown and chocolate colours of these markings were also observed in some of the animals. Ears are large in size and leafy. Both the sexes are polled; however, horns were noticed in some rams. Tail is thin and medium in length. The average body weight of adult males and females were 56.27±1.28 and 46.16±0.50 kg, respectively which ranged from 39 to 95 kg in males and 26 to 74 kg in females. The overall body length, height at wither, chest girth, paunch girth, face length, face width, ear length and tail length were also estimated. Fleece is not very dense and of good carpet quality. The fibre diameter, medulation and staple length were 42.22±0.10 μ, 56.60±4.22% and 5.90±0.32 cm, respectively which indicate that wool is of good carpet type. The age at first breeding in rams and age at first lambing in ewes were 12 to 15 and 18 to 23 months, respectively. The results indicate that the Chitarangi sheep is phenotypically different from other sheep breeds of the region and famous for carpet type wool.