Research Project Title: Justification of the Methodology for Improving and Preserving the Population of Brown Cattle in the Conditions of the Northeastern Region of Ukraine (0117U004253)
Project Supervisor: Volodymyr Ladyka, Prof., Dr. of Agricultural Sciences, Academician of NAAS
Completion Period: 2017 – 2019
Funding Amount: 800 thousand UAH
A methodology for improving and preserving the population of brown cattle in the northeastern region of Ukraine has been developed and scientifically substantiated. It includes a complex of measures provided by the Program for the Preservation and Selection of the Ukrainian Brown Dairy Breed, in particular, it involves breeding work with the breed using the open population method with the involvement of leading bulls from the world gene pool.
A scientifically substantiated methodology for breeding work with the gene pool herd using the reciprocal reproduction population method has been developed and implemented in production. This method involves the use of breeding animals of original German breeds in the selection process to prevent inbreeding.
During the research on the productive traits of the livestock, new valuable qualities of brown cattle were established, including the presence of a significant number of A2A2 genotypes for B-casein. This fact became the basis for developing a new scientific topic regarding the need to create micropopulations of brown cattle with unique productive properties.
Based on the results of genetic and breeding studies using molecular genetic markers, an analysis of the genetic structure of the Lebedyn breed was carried out using 10 microsatellite loci. The total number of alleles and the level of polymorphism in terms of variability of the corresponding loci were identified. Genotype and allele frequencies, actual (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity, effective number of alleles (ne), and Wright’s fixation index (Fis) were calculated. It was established, with the exception of the ETH3 and BM1818 loci, that the experimental group of animals is in a state of genetic equilibrium. The average value of Wright’s fixation index indicates a tendency to increase the number of homozygous individuals (inbreeding).
It has been proven that the preservation of brown cattle in their original type should be controlled through a linear classification system, demonstrating the existence of a connection between exterior traits and their direct or indirect economic value. This will allow for determining the priority of individual descriptive traits in the linear classification system.
For the first time in Ukraine, to minimize subjective influence on the evaluation of linear traits, target standards for exterior body measurements have been developed. These standards are expressed in specific absolute measurements within the variability of a nine-point evaluation scale and are protected by a declaratory patent. Similar studies on the development and implementation of target parameters for linear trait measurements were conducted when studying problematic issues of the exterior of first-calf heifers of the Ukrainian Red-and-White Dairy, Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy, and Simmental breeds. Within the methodology of linear classification of brown cattle, the level of average and optimal indicators of the evaluated traits, their biologically permissible deviations within the measurements, variability under the influence of genotypic and paratypic factors, the degree and direction of correlations between exterior traits and productivity, and the parameters of desired development of linear traits for animals of the Ukrainian Brown Dairy breed have been determined.
