AWASSI AND ITS POSSIBLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT ROLE IN AFRICA AND ASIA
Oktay Gürsoy
University of Çukurova, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science, 01330, Adana, Turkey
ogursoy@cu.edu.tr
The Awassi sheep is the dominant breed of the Southeast Anatolia region of Turkey and is also the sole breed of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a milk breed and is the top milk producer among the existing breeds in Turkey. It is well known for its hardiness, resistance to diseases and parasites, tolerance to extremely high temperatures, high adaptation to desert and temperate climates. It has had great genetic relations with the Awassi found in Israel through vast imports of the Awassi from Turkey in mid fifties. Its litter size is around 1.1 lamb/lambing; lactation milk production is approximately 180 kg under extensive conditions and responds very well to intensification. Growth performance of the Awassi sheep is also remarkable and is the highest among all the breeds in Turkey. Under feedlot conditions daily gains of 300–340 are highly common. Greasy fleece weight is around 2.5–3.0 kg and is of mattress quality. Its fleece is high in madullated fibers and is extremely well known with its kemp fiber ratio. The Awassi population demonstrates high variation regarding milk production and growth performances and high genetic gains are achieved via progeny testing for improving milk production in unique Ceylanpinar State Farm population of 25.000 ewes. It seems to be a very suitable breed for poverty alleviation and prevention of hunger in Africa and Asia. In line with this objective great numbers of the Turkish Awassi sheep have been imported by Libya, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Cyprus within the last forty years.
Keywords: Awassi; milk production; growth performance; breed utilization; rural development; poverty alleviation
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