THE IMPACT OF THE ROMANOV STUD RAMS’ GENOTYPE ON THE ACCUMULATION OF ZINC IN THE WOOL

Abstract

The paper analyzes heavy zinc metal accumulation in the wool of descendants obtained from the Romanov stud rams. The experiment was conducted in the Kuzbass region at OAO “Vaganovo” on the Romanov sheep populations. Zinc concentration in sons’ wool samples was determined by means of applying inverse voltammetry method on TALAB voltammetric analyzer. In the zone of sheep breeding, the researchers used the materials of the Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences for analyzing zinc concentration in the environment. They observed. there was no zinc excess in all the samples. The study of soil, fodder, organs and tissues of agricultural animals of different species confirms that in Western Siberia there is no heavy metal pollution outside the sanitary protection zones. The authors found out the impact of the Romanov stud rams’ genotype on the accumulation of zinc in the wool of the offsprings. The differences in the phenotypic variability of zinc concentration were revealed in the offspring of different fathers. The article demonstrates that the zinc concentration of some fathers’ sons’ wool was 1.6 times higher (97.2 mg/kg) than that of descendants of other stud rams. A group of semi-sibs was found, which were characterized by low hereditary predisposition to zinc accumulation in wool. Due to the lack of data on zinc concentration in the wool of Romanov animals in Siberia, the obtained data can be applied as a physiological standard.