Assessment of economically useful characteristics of maral fawns of the Novotalitskaya line of the Altai-Sayan breed

Abstract

Increasing the profitability in the maral breeding industry primarily depends on the rational and focused rearing of young animals. The development of marals at an early age largely determines the additional economic value of these animals. The study’s objective is to assess the productive qualities of maral fawns of the Novotalitskaya line of the Altay-Sayan breed. The work was carried out at the maral farms (Pokrovka, Sentelek, and Aba) of the Experiment Station “Novotalitskoe” at “Federal Altai Scientific Center for Agrobiotechnologies during the period of velvet antler cutting in July 2020. The researchers assessed two hundred sixty-six fawns having their first antlers. They found that the average velvet antler productivity among the fawns of the Novotalitskaya line was 1.5±0.03 kg. The velvet antlers had the following parameters: trunk length - 35.8±0.41 cm, trunk girth - 12.4±0.08 cm, supraorbital process length -16.1±0.30 cm, icy process length - 15.0±0.36 cm, middle process length - 11.1±0.32 cm, bifurcation depth - 1.9±0.07 cm. 84.7% of the fawns had round antlers, 9.0% had boot-shaped antlers, and 6.3% had fork-shaped antlers. Fawn quality classification is the following: first class - 9.4%, second class - 65.4%, third class - 25.2%.