Current state and ways to increase the dairy productivity of camels in the south-western region of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Increasing the dairy productivity of camels is an urgent task for many countries where these animals are of great importance as a source of dairy and meat. The purpose of the study was to evaluate and select heavy milk-producing camels for breeding by genotyping, studying the genealogical structure, and selecting related groups with high productivity. To achieve this goal, the number of camel herds in the south-western region of Kazakhstan was monitored during 2020–2022 to study their external characteristics, live weight dynamics, and milk productivity. As a result, it was found that in female camels for 12 months of lactation, the average daily milk yields of the Arvana breed were 7.4 kg, with milk yield for lactation of 2682.8 kg of milk, and in the Bactrian breed with average daily milk yields of 5.8 kg of milk, milk yield for lactation was 1186.3 kg. It was also revealed that the herds of Arvana camels have 15 breeders, and the herds of Bactrian camels have 14 breeders, which are characterised by a sufficient number of offspring for selection and breeding to improve the productive qualities of animals. In addition, it was found that in the herds of Arvana camels, the descendants of the breeders of “Tekele-lek”, “Kara-lek”, “Zhana-lek”, “Mayakum-lek”, “Yrys-lek” and “Shilikti-lek”, and in the herds of Bactrian camels, “Bal-bura”, “Kulsary-bura”, “Zhas-bura”, “Taushyk-II-bura”, “Sakon-bura”, “Konai-bura”, and “Kulandy-bura” noted high milk productivity. It was found that in the milk of camels of the Arvana breed, the content of nonfat milk solids was 8.3%, the density was 27.66 g/cm 3 , the acidity was 19 0 T, in the milk of the Bactrian breed, these indicators were, respectively: 8.23%, 27.81 g/cm, 3 and 19 0 T. The results obtained are of great practical importance, as they can be applied to create new methods and technologies for managing camel herds that will help increase their dairy productivity.