A. Breeding tract
The breed gets the name from its breeding tract Hassan district. The breeding tract extends from 12°13' to 13°33' North latitudes and 75°33' to 76°38' East longitudes. Hassan district has a total area of 6826.15 km². The Hassan breed is spread across Hassan, Tumkuru, Mandya and Mysore districts of Karnataka. The typical specimens of this breed are observed in Arasikere, Holenarsipura and Tipturu talukas (parts of Central dry and Southern dry zones of the state). The average temperature ranges between 28.2-38.9°C (Max) and 19.5-24.8°C (Min). Maximum humidity (per cent) is observed during the period from October to January and annual rainfall in the region varies from 80 to 140 cm.
Status of breed
As per All India Livestock Census for the period from 1987 to 2019, the average (geometric mean) growth rate of sheep population in Karnataka is 21.67 per cent, higher than Indian average of 12.77 per cent. However, the growth of sheep population during the same period in Hassan district is just 2.38 per cent showing almost stagnation. According to
Breed survey report (2013), population of Hassan sheep was 8.61 lakh of which 1.57 lakh were of graded type. Further, it has been observed that the Hassan sheep are not only decreasing in number but the breed characteristics are getting diluted. The probable reason for dilution is that the sheep from Sira (Tumkuru) and Hiriyuru (Chitradurga) are migratory and they will be crossing the breeding tract of Hassan sheep during November to April and hence the probable chance of crossbreeding. Some shepherds with intention to improve the performance of their sheep have introduced Rambouillet rams and recently Dorper rams were also being used by some shepherds. Shepherds involving in cross breeding are of the opinion that Hassan sheep having black head is better indigenous sheep for crossing with Dorper rams, as black head is the typical morphological feature of Dorper sheep. Further, Kenguri sheep from Northern Karnataka region is gaining popularity in the Hassan sheep breeding tract because of its rapid growth performance as compared to Hassan sheep (Naveen
Kumar et al., 2013).
B. Breed morphology
The representative photographs of Hassan sheep breed have been given in Fig 1 to 4. As per information from the shepherds and actual observation, Hassan breed of sheep is a small to medium sized sheep. The average flock size observed was 38 (17-58) and composed of 7.9 per cent (102) rams, 63.2 per cent (817) ewes and 28.9 per cent (373) lambs. The average flock size in various sheep breeds of Karnataka includes 16 in Mandya
(Jain et al., 2005), 87 in Kenguri
(Jain et al., 2006a) and 135 in Bellary sheep
(Jain et al., 2006b), indicating Hassan and Mandya are reared in limited numbers probably as they are not taken too far distance for grazing. The coat colour was usually complete white, but these sheep also had white with light brown patches and white with black patches. The black or brown patches were observed on head and on different parts of the body. On an average, in a flock, the proportion of different coat colours included complete white (23.3%), white with light brown patches (58.1%) and white with black patches (18.6%) on head and neck region. The coat colour pattern resembles nondescript sheep seen in districts surrounding Hassan, except that brown and black patches are more pronounced in Hassan breed. Majority of the Hassan sheep observed were polled, on an average, among the adult sheep 40.2 per cent (41) of males and 1.7 per cent (14) of females are horned. The size and shape of the horns varied, adult rams had relatively large horns, whereas young males and females had small and irregular shaped horns. Horn scurs were observed in few females (3) but not in males.
Jain et al., (2005 and
2006) have reported that both male and female of Mandya sheep and females of Hassan sheep as polled and about 30-40 per cent were horned in Hassan male sheep. Ears were of moderate length and drooping. Atrophied ears were noticed in 2.3 per cent (21) of adult Hassan sheep.
Gao et al., (2018) through genome wide association studies have established involvement of several novel genes for ear length, thus role of these genes in ear atrophy in the breed needs to be studied. Fleece of these sheep was coarse and white to dull white in colour, devoid of fleece on limbs and belly.
C. Breed morphometry
The morphometry of 344 adult Hassan sheep (36 rams and 308 ewes) as mean±standard error for body length (cm), height at wither (cm), chest girth (cm), paunch (cm), ear length (cm), tail length (cm) and average body weight (kg) in males and females are presented in Table 2. The body weight, chest girth and height at withers were significantly higher in males than females, indicating height and chest girth as important morphometric variables affecting body weight and sexual dimorphism with respect to body weight. Among sheep breeds of Karnataka, sexual dimorphism with respect to morphometry was more in Kenguri sheep
(Yadav et al., 2013). Non significant difference was noticed between sexes with respect to body length, paunch, ear length and tail length. The body weights steadily and significantly increased in males than in females from the age of 6 months. The adult body weight of Hassan sheep in males and females recorded in this study were similar to that reported by
Jain et al., (2005) and more than that reported by
Acharya (1982). Among the Karnataka sheep breeds, adult body weight (kg) was highest in Kenguri sheep followed by Ballery, Mandya and Hassan sheep
(Jain et al., 2005, 2006,
2006a and
2006b).
Siddalingswamy et al., (2019) have reported that two lesser known sheep breeds (Yalaga and Mouli) in northern Karnataka region whose morphometry and adult body weights were higher than Kenguri sheep breed.
D. Carcass characteristics
Hassan shepherds sell their male lambs between 9-12 months of age. All the young female lambs born were retained and older females (60 months of their age) are disposed off. Hence, in the present study male lambs between 9 to 12 months were taken to study carcass characteristics.
Carcass measurements
Various carcass measurements recorded are presented in Table 3. There were no earlier reports with regard to carcass measurements in Hassan sheep for comparison. Naveen
Kkumar et al., (2018) has reported carcass measurements in Mandya breed male lambs of around six months age. However, the values of carcass measurements as compared with other sheep breeds
(Shinde et al., 2008; Karim et al., 2002; Mule et al., 2013) indicate that carcass measurements depends on slaughter age and size of the animals. The different carcass measurements indicate the individual breed characteristics, keeping in view the body conformation of the different breeds.
Carcass weight and dressing percentage
In the present study, the pre-slaughter weight (PSW), hot carcass weight (HCW) and dressing percentage recorded were 20.3±1.42 kg, 9.5±0.23 kg and 46.8 per cent, respectively. The dressing percentage is similar to that reported in Mandya male lambs (Naveen
Kumar et al., 2018) and was within the range of 45 to 50 per cent as reported in most of the sheep breeds of India and much lower than in the exotic breed like Dorper (62.86±1.68%), which was bred for higher body weight.
Non-carcass components
The mean values of weight of different non-carcass components in Hassan ram lambs are presented in Table 4. The results as per cent to pre slaughter weight were similar to the earlier reports with respect to non-carcass components in Mandya (Naveen
Kumar et al., 2018), Kheri lambs
(Karim et al., 2007), Chokla and Avikalin yearlings (
Sureshkumar and Karim, 2008) and Malpura ram lambs
(Shinde et al., 2008).
Carcass cuts
The weights of primal cuts and their meat to bone composition of Hassan ram lambs as observed in the present study are presented in Table 5. The total meat to bone ratio observed are in concurrence with findings of other Indian sheep breeds.
