Morphological features and production performances of the hybrids of mouflon (Ovis ammon musimon Pal.) and domestic sheep

The aim of this study was to establish production performances upon slaughter in the hybrids obtained by cross breeding of the mouflon (Ovis ammon musimon Pal.) and domestic sheep. The morphological and histomorphometric study was carried out on fragments longissimus dorsi and quadriceps femoris muscles sampled from seven MM x FT hybrids and MT x FM hybrids, respectively. To do so, muscle fragments were fixed in a 10% formalin solution, dehydrated in ethylic alcohol, clarified in acetone and benzene and embedded in histological paraffin, then sectioned in 5 mu thick slices. Histological preparations were stained through the Mallory trichromic method. Histomorphometric analysis reveals that at the MM x FT hybrids both longissimus dorsi and quadriceps femoris have thicker muscular fibers and smaller amounts of inter-fibrilar connective tissue than the MT x FM hybrids (p > 0.05; p < 0.05). In addition, in the two muscles, the mean area of muscular fascicles per microscopic field was larger in the MM x FT hybrids than in the MT x FM hybrids (p < 0.01; p < 0.001). Results show that using mouflon (Ovis ammon musimon Pal.) and local Tigaie sheep in the development of new genotypes could be a good solution for both the production of high quality mutton and conservation of these threatened species.