„breed“ 119 výsledků

The Lipizzan breed presents an indispensable part of numerous cultural and folklore events, equestrian games, folklore festivals and horse shows in Croatia. Also this is the third most populous breed of horses in Croatia and have status of Croatian protected breed. The aim of this paper was to show the history of breeding of Lipizzan horses and their introduction to Croatia. The origin of Lipizzan breed is connected with the year 1580 when Charles II, Archduke of Austria bought the village of Lipica near Sežana in Slovenia and founded a horse breed there. The Lipizzan were initially used for the protocol needs of the Vienna Court, and later as a working aid. Due to its exceptional beauty and wide usage, this breed began to spread through the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Today, the Lipizzan breed, consists of 7 lines of stallions and 18 mare family lines. Throughout history, the breeding goal of the Lipizzan was harmonized depending on the country where it was grown, depending on the time and needs of the source of labour in agriculture and transport, but also depending on the culture of living in a particular region. More than 300 years of Lipizzan breeding in Croatia resulted in noble Baroque horse acclimated for Croatian conditions and deeply correlated with Croatian people and tradition.

The aim of the research was to analyse the Rabbit of Nitra in terms of its reproduction and production performance. All rabbits used for research were raised within a home environment (4 breeding sources). The research was focused on reproduction parameters (the number of live born kits, the number of weaned kits), growth parameters – growth performance (1st day, 21st day, 42nd day to 119th day), slaughter parameters (dressing out percentage, the weight of individual parts of carcass body). Detected live weight in adult males weight was 5291.48 ±546.39 g. In adult females average live weight was 4623.10 ±458.41 g. The weight of live born pups of rabbits on day 1 was 57.84 ±1.08 g, weight on 21st day 310.09 ±7.21 g, weight on 42nd day from 1034.26 ±50.70 g up to 1128.13 ±30.78 g, 77th day from 2126.48 ±85.49 g up to 2243.70 ±47.07 g and 91th day from 2379.29 ±31.22 g up to 2653.53 ±37.86 g. An average dressing out percentage was 62.47±0.23%.

The aim of the present study was to analyse the genetic diversity of the endangered horse breeds kept in the Czech Republic. A set of 13 microsatellites was used for genotyping 349 Silesian Norikers, 397 Norikers, 552 Czech-Moravian Belgian horses, 271 Old Kladrubers (175 greys, 95 blacks) and 241 Hucul horses. The proportion of obtained heterozygosity indicates no major loss of genetic diversity within analyzed breeds. The Wright’s FST and genetic distances indicated genetic segregation of both colour varieties of the Old Kladruber breed and small genetic distances between draft horse breeds. Moreover, the membership probability outputs showed that the frequencies of alleles varied across the three main regions. First region is represented by draft horse breeds, second region is represented by Old Kladruber horse and the last is represented by Hucul breed. The study provides data and information utilizable in the management of conservation programs in order to reduce inbreeding and to minimize loss of genetic variability.

Between breeders, Chinchilla rabbit is very popular as it has standard body shape and high quality of typically coloured fur. The aim of this study was to analyse quality of Chinchilla rabbit fur. Coat samples were gathered at the National Animal Exhibition in Nitra. We collected samples from three different body areas – those being scapula, back and thigh. Altogether, we obtained 153 samples of different individual animals. We observed different parameters of the fur. Those were – thickness and length of coat, height and width of the undercolour, ticking and height of the guard hair. We found out that average thickness of coat in the examined population was 0.106 mm in the area of scapula; 0.104 mm in the thigh area and 0.113 mm from the back area. Length of the guard hair from area of scapula was 35.8 mm; 37.9 mm in the thigh area and 36.4 mm in the back area. Height of the undercolour was 26.9 mm in the back area, 26.4 mm in area of scapula and 27.6 mm in the area of thighs. Observed width of intermediate colour was 5.1 mm in thigh area; 4.3 mm in back area and 4.8 mm in scapula area. Measured height of terminal black line of hair was 4.7 mm in area of scapula; 5.3 mm in the back area and 5.3 mm in thigh area. The differences among the evaluated body areas were not significant.

The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the technological meat quality of the breed White Mangalitsa through the pH, electric conductivity, drip loss and meat color parameters. Totally, 20 pigs of the breed White Mangalitsa (10 barrows and 10 gilts) were evaluated. Pigs were bred under the intensive breeding conditions. The animals were fed ad libitum using a complete feed compound with the added silage. Pigs were slaughtered upon reaching 110 kg of live weight. The muscles of MLD (Musculus longissimus dorsi) and MSM (Musculus semimembranosus) were evaluated. The meat quality analysis showed that pH1 was similar between the muscles. The evidently lower pH2 value was in MLD (p <0.01). The EC1 value (p <0.01) was evidently higher in the MSM muscle. The EC2 values in MLD and MSM were similar. Between the muscles, an evidentiary difference was observed in water drip loss (p <0.01), greater losses were recorded in MLD. In the SCI a * and SCI b * values, which express the redness and yellowness of the meat, the values in MSM were evidently higher. The lightness of the meat (SCI L *) was the same in both muscles. The differences between the sexes in the observed qualitative parameters were not evidentiary.

The aim of the study was to determine the growth characteristics of three rabbit breeds (Czech Solver, CSo, n = 11; Czech Spotted, CS, n = 28; Blanc de Hotot, BH, n = 24) under small-scaled stock conditions as a basis for their potential meat performance. The body morphometric characteristics live weight (LW), head length (HL), body length (BL), ear length, thoracic circumference (TC) and body compact index TC/BL were recorded in growing rabbits from 21st to 91st day of their age. At the end of the trial, the highest LW value was recorded in the BH breed (2700.0g) as compared to the CSo and CS breeds, respectively (1887.5 and 1545.4g). The values of the HL were significantly affected by a rabbit breed up to the 63rd day of their age (P <0.01). The highest values of BL and TC were found in the BH breed as compared to the CSo breed and also the CS breed (P <0.01). The BH breed showed also the longest ears (P <0.01) while the different dynamics of the ear growth among the evaluated breeds was found. Concerning the body compact index TC/BL, the growing rabbits of the BH breed showed wider body given by their musculature proportion as compared to the representatives of the CSo and CS breeds (P <0.01). Our findings suggest that the Blanc de Hotot breed possesses suitable growth and morphometric characteristics for intended meat production.

The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the technological meat quality of the breed White Mangalitsa through the pH, electric conductivity, drip loss and meat color parameters. Totally, 20 pigs of the breed White Mangalitsa (10 barrows and 10 gilts) were evaluated. Pigs were bred under the intensive breeding conditions. The animals were fed ad libitum using a complete feed compound with the added silage. Pigs were slaughtered upon reaching 110 kg of live weight. The muscles of MLD (Musculus longissimus dorsi) and MSM (Musculus semimembranosus) were evaluated. The meat quality analysis showed that pH1 was similar between the muscles. The evidently lower pH2 value was in MLD (p <0.01). The EC1 value (p <0.01) was evidently higher in the MSM muscle. The EC2 values in MLD and MSM were similar. Between the muscles, an evidentiary difference was observed in water drip loss (p <0.01), greater losses were recorded in MLD. In the SCI a * and SCI b * values, which express the redness and yellowness of the meat, the values in MSM were evidently higher. The lightness of the meat (SCI L *) was the same in both muscles. The differences between the sexes in the observed qualitative parameters were not evidentiary.

The aim of the study was to determine the growth characteristics of three rabbit breeds (Czech Solver, CSo, n = 11; Czech Spotted, CS, n = 28; Blanc de Hotot, BH, n = 24) under small-scaled stock conditions as a basis for their potential meat performance. The body morphometric characteristics live weight (LW), head length (HL), body length (BL), ear length, thoracic circumference (TC) and body compact index TC/BL were recorded in growing rabbits from 21st to 91st day of their age. At the end of the trial, the highest LW value was recorded in the BH breed (2700.0g) as compared to the CSo and CS breeds, respectively (1887.5 and 1545.4g). The values of the HL were significantly affected by a rabbit breed up to the 63rd day of their age (P <0.01). The highest values of BL and TC were found in the BH breed as compared to the CSo breed and also the CS breed (P <0.01). The BH breed showed also the longest ears (P <0.01) while the different dynamics of the ear growth among the evaluated breeds was found. Concerning the body compact index TC/BL, the growing rabbits of the BH breed showed wider body given by their musculature proportion as compared to the representatives of the CSo and CS breeds (P <0.01). Our findings suggest that the Blanc de Hotot breed possesses suitable growth and morphometric characteristics for intended meat production.

The genetic structure of five goat breeds bred in Slovakia was characterized using a visible genetic profile and biochemical polymorphic systems. Tree dairy goat breeds – White Shorthaired, Brown Shorthaired and Alpine goats – and two wool goat breeds – Angora and Cashmere goats – were evaluated. Calculated were the heterozygosity and the effective number of alleles for each locus based on the allele frequencies of eight genes determining type traits and biochemical polymorphic systems, as well as their average values as indicators characterizing the genetic variability of each breed. The genetic differences between breeds were also determined.

Leaves are part of the plant organs that are important to sustain its life. These organs are sensitive to climate changes and may present phenotypic plasticity in response to environmental conditions. However, affirmation of the leaves morphological plasticity and their regulation in different environments is still little studied up to date. In the present research, we evaluated performance of 20 different groups of Argania spinosa (L.) skeels genotypes (half-sibling). Each group contains 3 half-sibs. Genotype × environment interactions (GxE) were evaluated as well, for shape and size leaves. To perform this, geometric morphometrics principles were applied to analyze genotypes morphology in three locations (Center, West and South West of Morocco). Univariate and multivariate analysis was used for data analysis. Results showed significant variation of symmetric and asymmetric components for genotypes, half-sibling and location with relatively high variation coefficient (60 %<). Shape and size differences among genotypes, suggest that they were the main source in leaf morphology variation. Canonical Variate Analysis of leaf shapes reveals that the aregions are clearly distinct from each other. For symmetric component analysis, Mahalanobis distances values among locations reached 35.53 between South-Western and North-Western locations, 21.88 North-Western and central locations and 18.29 for South-Western and Central location. The differentiation between the groups using the Canonical Variations value showed a significant effect of the environment on the studied argan genotypes. Small leaves and narrow limbs were observed in central location compared to others. However, South-Western location leaves had mainly an ovate shape. The same genotypes presented a high spectrum of shape variation varying from obovate to ovate in the other regions. This study highlights the strong correspondence between leaf morphology and genotype within different environments, and demonstrates that GxE interaction shave an impact to take into consideration in breeding programs.

Genetic evaluation of beef cattle in Slovakia started in first years of this century. After the first decade of running the routine evaluations it is important to review the progress made and to discuss the further development. The aim of this paper was to compile and deliver genetic and phenotypic trends in order to review importance of evaluated traits with respect to four major beef (Charolais, Limousine) and dual-purpose breeds (Slovak Pinzgau cattle, Slovak Spotted cattle). The study showed different progress made across the breeds. Higher genetic progress was observed in Charolais purebreds compared to Limousine counterparts. Moreover, almost similar progress to that in Charolais was observed in dual-purpose Slovak Pinzgau cattle. On the other hand no progress was observed in Slovak Spotted purebreds. Results also showed higher progress in bulls compared to cows. Phenotypic trends showed reserves for improvement in Charolais and closing to breed standards in Limousine. In dualpurpose breeds improvement was shown only in Slovak Pinzgau, while no improvement or decrease in actual weights was shown in Slovak Spotted purebreds.

In this study, the intra- and inter-population level of genetic diversity of 26 transboundary and local sheep breeds reared in the Czech Republic was analysed. A total of 14,999 animals genotyped for 11 microsatellite markers were included to describe the gene pool of the breeds. The level of genetic diversity was derived from the proportion of heterozygous animals among and within breeds. The average polymorphic information content (0.745) and Shannon’s index (1.361) showed a high genetic variability of the applied set of genetic markers. The average observed heterozygosity (0.683 ± 0.009), as well as FIS index (-0.025 ± 0.004), pointed to a sufficient proportion of heterozygotes concerning the loss of genetic diversity. The deficit of heterozygotes was most evident in Cameroon sheep (FIS = 0.036). The Nei's genetic distances and Wright's FST indexes showed that the analysed breeds are genetically differentiated to separate clusters with Cameroon sheep as the most genetically distant breed. Individual variation accounted for 83.2 % of total diversity conserved across breeds, whereas 16.8 % of genetic similarity resulted from the inter-population reduction in heterozygosity.

Slovak Spotted cattle represents an endangered breed with cultural importance in Slovakia. The study was based on the panel of 34,604 SNPs that were used for genotyping of 451 individuals. We used a combination of two arrays Illumina BovineSNP50v2 BeadChip and ICBF International Dairy and Beef v3, for estimation of gene flow and genetic drift. Based on the admixture results, a gene flow network across the analysed breeds was created. Our result showed that the Jersey population was involved in the grading-up of the analysed breeds. Analysed breeds were not confirmed to influence genetic make-up of Jersey. In addition, the phylogenetic analysis of the six cattle breeds revealed that Jersey is separated from the others. In contrast, the other breeds showed a close relationship with each other according to the maximum‐likelihood tree. Migration edges reached weight values below 0.2, apart the one observed among the Ayrshire/Swiss Simmental breeds into Jersey (0.4), reflecting that the donor population has made a significant contribution to the recipient population.

In this study, inbreeding and effective population size of the Latvian gene conservation cattle breeds Latvian Brown (LB) and Latvian Blue (LZ) were analysed. The study was based on the pedigree data of 319 LB and 712 LZ cows that were alive at the time of data selection. The inbreeding level in LB and LZ has been increasing during the last decade and at the end of the year 2019, it was 2.61% and 5.20% for LB and LZ, respectively. The average increase of inbreeding from 2010 to 2019 was 1.80% for LB and 2.26% for LZ. The proportions of inbred animals with an inbreeding level greater than 10% were 0.60% and 2.14% in LB and LZ, respectively. Effective population size based on the rate of inbreeding decreased and was close or within the minimum range of recommended effective population size. The current study demonstrates that the inbreeding has increased, and the effective population size decreased in both populations. Therefore, the breeding organizations have to monitor and control the rate of inbreeding in LB and LZ populations over time.

Chianina, Marchigiana, Maremmana, Podolica and Romagnola are the main Italian beef cattle breeds, and the quality of their products is largely recognized worldwide. This paper aims to determine the genetic variability and population differentiation by heterozygosity and fixation indices using SNPs data. The dataset was composed of 3,581 animals (Chianina, n = 909; Marchigiana, n = 879; Maremmana, n = 334; Podolica, n = 555; Romagnola, n = 904). The blood samples were collected in ANABIC performance testing station from 1985 to 2019. All the animals were genotyped with the GeneSeek GGP-LDv4 33k SNP chip containing 30,111 SNPs. The genotype quality control for each breed was conducted separately, and SNPs with call rate smaller than 0.95 and minor allele frequency larger than 5% were used for further analysis. Heterozygosity and FIS index were estimated in PLINK v1.9, and FST index was estimated using the hierstat package of R 4.0.1 software. The genetic analysis highlighted low values of heterozygosity in the improved beef breeds compared to the heritage breeds; moreover, the low values of FIS indicated a positive effect of controlled genetic inbreeding in the studied breeds. The FST; analysis confirmed the historical origin of Marchigiana breed and the values are consistent with their common breeding programmes. In this study, the importance of monitoring genetic variability of Italian beef cattle breeds was emphasized in order to maintain breed identity and genetic diversity in the selection process.

According to census accomplished in 2001, only 9% of Italian poultry breeds are still widespread. This project aims to describe morphological variability and genetic background among 13 Italian autochthonous chicken breeds, 10 from Northern Italy and 3 from Central Italy. An updated biometrical measurement protocol was established starting from phenotypic characterization guidelines released by FAO. Six traits were registered on each animal: live body weight (LBW), body length (BL), shank length (SL), shank width (SW), breast width (BW), and wingspan (WS). Moreover, all breeds were genotyped using the Affymetrix 600 K Chicken SNP Array, in order to evaluate genetic variability and population structure. Means of BL and BW showed low variability among breeds, with the lowest value in Pepoi (BL = 32.29 ± 1.57 cm and BW = 28.92 ± 1.93 cm), and maximum in Robusta Lionata for BL (46.79 ± 1.66 cm) and in Robusta Maculata for BW (42.33 ± 3.60 cm). On the contrary, average LBW varied notably among breeds, with the highest value for Robusta Maculata (♂ 4,221.7 ± 450.6 g; ♀ 2,831.7 ± 253.2 g) and the lowest values for Modenese males (1,695.0 ± 128.1 g) and Pepoi females (1,293.3 ± 219.2 g). The lowest observed heterozygosity (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He) were obtained for Padovana Argentata (Ho: 0.151 ± 0.198; He: 0.146 ± 0.185) and the highest for Millefiori di Lonigo (Ho: 0.293 ± 0.199; He: 0.291 ± 0.178). Furthermore, multidimensional scaling plot showed clear genetic identity for each breed, with clusters formed according to geographical and historical origin of the breeds, which were confirmed in neighbor networks. In conclusion, local breeds have conserved authentic genetic patterns and these results can help improve conservation strategies.

The development of antimicrobial resistance is a growing problem which jeopardises both human and animal health. Livestock sector is generally blamed as principal contributor due to the over-use of antimicrobials to treat animals. Hence, new strategies to reduce antimicrobial use (AMU) are necessary. Little is still known on potential factors affecting AMU in beef production. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the impact of farm, breed, sex and season on AMU in Charolaise and Limousine breeds. Data on body weight, breed, sex and AMU were collected from 10 specialized beef farms (543 batches) located in Veneto region (Italy). Average daily gain (ADG) was calculated and AMU data were used to calculate a treatment incidence (TI100it) through the Defined Daily Dose Animal based on Italian dosage. An ANOVA was performed to investigate sources of variation of ADG and TI100it. Overall, farms differed significantly for both ADG and TI100it. The ADG was greater for Charolaise than Limousine breed (P <0.05). Limousine had greater TI100it than Charolaise (P <0.05), and males had greater TI100it than females (P <0.05), likely due to their higher susceptibility to respiratory diseases. Differences among seasons were also observed, with the coldest periods of the year having greater TI100it compared to summer and spring (P <0.05). Findings of the present study shed a light on potential risk factors of AMU in beef cattle, which will be useful to develop new strategies for the reduction of antimicrobials.5

The African Chicken Genetic Gain (ACGG) project (https://africacgg.net/) aims at backyard poultry optimization by commercial dual-purpose breeds introduction into Africa. To measure benefits, genotype by environment interaction (GxE) analysis provides guidance while predicting environmental effects on production traits of breeds. A survey among Ethiopian poultry smallholders showed egg sale being the most important purpose of keeping village chickens in Oromia. Data was available about laying of 894 ACGG chickens in Oromia. Hence current research questions were: 1) Does GxE take place? 2) Which breed performs best regarding laying and in which environment within Oromia? Traits investigated were egg number and egg weight of five breeds (S-RIR, Sasso, Horro, Kuroiler and Koekoek) located in three zones (East Hararge, East and West Shoa) and 5 districts (Adami Tulu, Bako Tibe, Dano, Dugda and Haromaya) in Oromia. Observations were taken as group measure performing weighted analyses. GxE was only present for egg number with magnitude strongest for zone. S-RIR performed best for both traits in both environments, except Kuroiler performing better in East Shoa for egg number and Koekoek for egg weight. This indicates success of crossbreed S-RIR. Sasso and Horro performed worst supported by previous research for Horro but not Sasso. Low precipitation in East Shoa caused bigger distance in egg number predictions, being higher for S-RIR and lower for Horro and Sasso compared to West Shoa. Apart from these final conclusions, social context of breeding and data collection difficulties should not be forgotten. Just like relevance of other performance trait analyses.

This study aims to genetically evaluate clinical mastitis (CM) in Holstein cattle using a two-trait repeatability animal model with the average lactation somatic cell score (LSCS) as an indicator trait of mastitis. The data set included 21,786 Holsteins with 29,110 lactations in 59 herds and with a calving date between 2015 and 2019. CM was considered as an all-or-none trait (values 0 or 1) in the period from calving to 305 days in milk, and the LSCS was obtained by logarithmic transformation of the average of the individual test-day records for somatic cell count over lactation. Heritability of CM was estimated using a single-trait repeatability animal model, whereas the genetic correlation between CM and LSCS was assessed through a two-trait repeatability animal model. Fixed effects included in the analyses were parity-age and herd-year-season, and the random effects were the permanent environment and the animal. The (co)variance matrix was employed in breeding values estimation for both single-trait (only CM) and bivariate models (CM and LSCS) including genomic prediction. Only genotyped sires formed the reference population for the single-step genomic evaluation. The heritability for CM was 0.04 in the single-trait and 0.05 in the two-trait analysis. Genetic correlation between CM and LSCS was 0.80. The employment of the two-trait model had a considerably strong influence on reliability. The reliability increased for cows with records as well as for the genotyped sires. This study indicates that the two-trait analysis of CM and LSCS is feasible and improves the reliability of the estimated breeding values.

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of optimum contribution selection (OCS) in a small native cattle breed. In practical animal breeding, the genetic improvement is often accompanied by an increase of inbreeding level due to the preferential use of closely related animals, particularly in small populations. This may lead to a reduction of genetic variability and to detrimental effects on some traits. The OCS maximizes the genetic merit of newborns while putting a restriction on the average relationship of the current generation. Despite the benefits, OCS has not been widely applied in practical breeding plans yet. This study considered the effects of OCS in the dual-purpose Rendena cattle, by applying different penalties to the average relationship of current generation (from 0 to -100,000). The OCS was applied on the candidate bull-dams and bull-sires for the years 2014 to 2019, and compared with simulations of random mating, traditional selection and mating system used by the breeders association. Considering the mating of 2014 and 2015, OCS allowed to obtain a predicted offspring with lower genetic merit than in traditional selection, but also with a lower inbreeding. When OCS was routinely introduced in the breed, in 2016, a reduction in genetic merit but also a consistent reduction in the average relatedness and inbreeding rate were observed. Subsequent years showed the actual effects of the OCS program: after the introduction of the optimization, the inbreeding rate did not increase over years. Moreover, the traditional mating system results were suboptimal in respect to OCS simulations. The study confirmed the benefit of OCS as effective tool for long-term preservation of small local breeds under selection, which is important for biodiversity and sustainable use of the genetic resources.