A distinct variety of sheep found mainly in Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Jajpur districts and generally known as Kendrapada Sheep has received the status of a registered breed in India.
Researchers from the State ARD Department, OlRDS and College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry of OUAT had spotted a rare gene mutation in the Kendrapada sheep variety during their year-long research and had recommended that National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) give the sheep a registered breed status.
The breed was identified as the second breed in India and sixth in the world to be carrying FecB mutation gene responsible for multiple births – twinning and triplets – according to a study by OlRDS and OUAT.
The study recorded more than 80 per cent multiple births, 71 per cent twinning, 9 per cent triplet and 1 per cent quadruplets in a period of 12 months.
Kendrapada sheep, usually called as ‘deshi’ sheep, is a medium stature compact meat type docile animal with very coarse and little-curled hair as body coat. The average body weight of the sheep is 18 kg at one year of age and 28 kg at adult stage without any supplementation of feed except grazing.
There are around 1, 23,000 heads of the sheep, reared by mostly resource-poor farmers in the native tract.