Sheep Breeds of the Middle East: Diversity, Growth Patterns, and Reproductive Performance
Аннотация
The Middle East has a wide range of diversity and is distributed in this region with variable prevalence. Despite their critical importance, sufficient data to describe these breeds in this region are currently unavailable, and direct comparisons among them have not been made yet. The primary recognized Middle Eastern breeds were meticulously illustrated for each of the major Middle Eastern countries, along with a description of each breed's traits. Subsequently, two broad categories of growth and reproductive traits were taken using the available literature to compare among these breeds. To measure growth traits, readings of average body weights were recorded at birth and continued for three-month intervals until reaching maturity. Concerning reproductive traits, fertility, twinning, lambing, and survival rates were recorded. It is found that Turkey and Iran showed respectively the highest number of ovine biological diversity of sheep. This number is drastically reduced in other regions in the Middle East to include three breeds in Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Comparisons showed among breeds that the Assaf breed exerted the highest average body weight among all other breeds at the ages of birth. Again, Assaf breed showed the highest values of litter size, lambing rates, and prolificacy potentials. Red Karaman showed the highest fertility rates, while Bafra breed exerted the highest levels of twinning rates and prolificacy. In conclusion, Assaf breed stood out with the highest average body weight indices, demonstrating superior reproductive traits. Other Middle Eastern breeds, such as Bafra, red Karaman, and Hamdani, exhibited excellence in specific reproductive parameters, including twinning, fertility, and survival rates. This is the first comprehensive comparison that is conducted among the Middle East sheep to provide an insight into their unique characteristics, contributing to a better understanding of their potential for growth and reproductive success.
Article Details
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Aljubouri, T., Al-Khafaji, F., Al-Shuhaib, M., & Bayraktar, M. (2026). Sheep Breeds of the Middle East: Diversity, Growth Patterns, and Reproductive Performance. Journal of the Hellenic Veterinary Medical Society, 77(2), 10283–10326. https://doi.org/10.12681/jhvms.41843
- Выпуск
- Том 77 № 2 (2026)
- Раздел
- Review Articles
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