Deer of the forest-tundra of the Magadan region

Purpose: to study the morphological and economically useful traits of domestic reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) in the forest-tundra zone of the Far North-East of Russia. Materials and methods. The study used zootechnical information from annual reports on completed research projects by employees of the Laboratory of Selection and Breeding in Reindeer Husbandry of the Magadan Zonal Research Institute of Agriculture of the North-East for the 1970-1980s and 2000s. The model for the research was the reindeer population of the Markovsky state farm, typical for the forest-tundra zone of the North-East. The area of ​​reindeer pastures on the farm exceeded 5 million hectares, with 142.8 hectares per head. The average size of the production herd was 2,500 individuals. Results. The article presents data on morphological and economically useful traits of reindeer in the forest-tundra of the North-East — a pasture-geographical space on the border of the ranges of two large groups of reindeer — tundra and taiga. In the Markovsky state farm, typical for the forest-tundra zone, out of 35 thousand reindeer in the main herd, 25 % were Even, 44 % were Chukchi and 31 % were crossbred Chukchi-Even animals. In the forest-tundra, a hybrid population of reindeer was formed as a result of crossing two sympatric populations of the Even and Chukchi breeds. The intermediate phenotype had characteristic differences from the original breeds in morphological traits — color, exterior and constitution (linear measurements, body indexes), and meat productivity indicators. The conclusion is made about the origin of the forest-tundra ecotype based on hybrids from crossing sympatric populations of Chukchi and Even reindeer of different generations, backcrossing, introgression, stabilizing selection, microevolution under the influence of natural conditions and anthropogenic factors.