Some results of breeding for the transformation of productive qualities of merino sheep in the arid territories of the South of the russian federation.

The article provides information about the state of merino sheep breeding in the dry steppe zone of the Russian Federation by the example of Rostov region. The opinion is expressed that in the search for ways of import substitution, it is advisable to turn to the reanimation of domestic breeding resources, which were created in Soviet times, but in the course of changing forms of ownership and artificially created uncompetitiveness of Russian sheep breeding, have been lost or are on the verge of extinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]