Prospects of use of genetic resources of sheep in Ukraine

Anotace: Our research aimed to analyse the current state of the sheep industry in Ukraine, to highlight the geographical location of genetic resources, to describe the state of the breeding work, and to form the proposals for the development of this branch in the future. The date from the State register of breeding farms for 2005-2019 and statistical reporting were used for analysis. It is shown that over the last 14 years, the sheep industry in Ukraine has undergone significant changes: the form of ownership has changed, the number of livestock has decreased and the breed composition of sheep has changed. Currently, there are 0.7 million sheep in Ukraine, of which 26.7 thousand are registered like breeding animals belonging to 10 breeds. The largest number of sheep is concentrated in the south and west of the country, where the climatic conditions are favourable for this branch in the past. The leaders in terms of numbers are Odesa and Transcarpathia, Chernivtsi and Zaporizhia regions. Breeding pedigree animals are concentrated in Odesa and Kherson oblasts. The most numerous breeds are the Askanian meat-wool breed with crossbred wool and the Askanian Karakul breed. Taking into consideration the big potential of the sheep breeding, it is proposed to perform some steps to stimulate its development in Ukraine.