CONCENTRATION OF GLUCOSE IN SERUM OF SIMMENTAL COWS FROM DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIC AREAS

The aim of this paper is to examine the concentration of glucose in serum of Simmental cows from different geographic areas (lowland and mountain). The total number of tested animals was 42 healthy cows, by 21 at each farm, aged 3-5 years. The studies were conducted in two periods: autumn-winter (November-December), and repeated in spring (April-May) on the same cows. The concentration of glucose in the blood (serum) of tested animals does not exceed the physiological value

BASIC PHENOTYPIC MEASURES OF SERBIAN HOUND AND SERBIAN TRICOLOUR HOUND POPULATION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Along with indigenous hound breed Barak, a large number of hounds used in hunting in Bosnia and Herzegovina belongs to breeds Serbian Hound, Serbian Tricolour Hound and Posavatz Hound. So far, the population of these breeds in Bosnia and Herzegovina has not been the subject of research. The aim of this paper is to describe basic phenotypic parameters of Serbian Hound and Serbian Tricolour Hound from Bosnia and Herzegovina, to determine whether the obtained values meets the values defined by standards for these breeds, and is there any significant difference between the populations of dogs in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study was conducted on 38 dogs, including 20 Serbian Hounds (11 males and 9 females), and 18 Serbian Tricolour Hounds (10 males and 8 females). The following parameters were measured on each dog: the height at withers, the body length the length of head, the length of scull, the length of muzzle, the girth of chest. The measurements were performed using Litin rod, moving scale with nonius and the tape. Based on the results obtained from this research, it can be concluded that the Serbian Hound does not have large deviations from the values defined by standard, nor the differences between the populations of dogs in home country and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the Serbian Hound, a significant statistical difference is observed between the genders in following parameters: the height at withers, the length of head and the length of scull. In the Serbian Tricolour Hound, the males observed to be higher than height interval from standard for this breed, while the females remained in the values defined by standard. A very significant statistical differences between the genders were determined in all measured parameters for Serbian Tricolour Hound

SEUROP Classification of Bovine Carcasses in Strumica Region

Beef production in the R. of Macedonia is 5.000 to 8.000 tons, but its consumption is 14.000 to 16.000 tons of beef annually. For that market gap, our country spends a lot of money for beef import every year. From 2010 a New Law for quality of agricultural product ruled, according to new estimation of bovine carcasses by conformation and fat covering according SEUROP standards. According to our research, most of controlled bovine carcasses belong to R, O and P class by conformation, and 3 and 4 class by fat covering of carcasses

QUALITY OF EGG FOR CONSUMPTION FROM DIFFERENT PRODUCERS IN THE MARKETS IN R. MACEDONIA: 2. HOUGH UNITS AND YOLK COLOR

Eggs from 7 different brands offered to the supermarket chains in R. Macedonia were tested for meeting the minimum quality requirements defined by the Law. Egg size (egg weight in g) as well as internal quality traits (Hough Units that unbiased expressed egg “freshness” and Yolk color expressed as Roche leader scale from 1-14) were analyzed on 140 eggs. Each group was randomly represented by 10 M-weight class and 10 L-weight class eggs from each of the 7 brands, purchased directly from the supermarket shelf and analyzed the same day after the purchasing. Egg quality was analyzed in the Laboratory for control of the marketing quality of eggs at the Institute for animal biotechnology on the Faculty of agricultural science and food, using computerized equipment for measuring egg internal quality (Egg Multi Tester EMT 5200, Robotmation Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). Eggs from analyzed brands in general meat the required marketing standards in respect to theanalyzed parameters: egg albumen height or freshness (average = 61.56 and 58.75 Hough Units) and yolk color (average = 12.48 and 12.28 units of Roche scale) for L and M weight class, respectively. Only eggs from brand No. 4 does not fulfill the minimum required marketing standards in respect of the Hough Units (42.49 and 40.89 Hough Units) for M and L weight class, respectively. Additionally, eggs from brand No. 5 have average value below (51.95 Hough Units) the minimal required standard for freshness of 55 Hough units defined in the Law for quality of agricultural products and average weight for L class lower (62.04g) than the minimum requirement of 63g for this weight class

Characteristics and possible utilisation of Busha population in different Balkan countries

Received: 2018-05-07 | Accepted: 2018-05-14 | Available online: 2018-11-26https://doi.org/10.15414/afz.2018.21.04.155-158Busha cattle are indigenous breed in many Balkan countries. Because of the economic, cultural and scientific reasons it is very important to protect biological diversity of autochthonous breeds like Busha. In the past several decades, as a result of uncontrolled crossing of this cattle with some more productive breeds, the number of purebred Busha animals is permanently being reduced which imposes an urgent need for setting up in situ and ex situ conservation program for this breed. Since Busha is bred in many Balkan countries, the aim of this study was to define main productive, reproductive and exterior traits of Busha cattle in the following countries: Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. Also, number of animals and possibility of future production system was analysed. Analysed data indicate that highest milk production potential and lowest age at first mating has Serbian Busha (till 2000 kg in lactation, at 18 months). Regarding the exterior traits, smallest frame was observed in Bosnian and Macedonian Busha. The population decrease in the past several decades was determined in all analysed countries. The conservation programs in Croatia and Serbia resulted in certain increase of Busha population, but aiming successful preservation of the breed, economically effective production systems should be put in practice. The branding of Busha’s products could result in necessary added value. Taking into account similarity between all Busha breeds as well as population sizes, branding should be organized on regional level.Keywords: Busha breed, Balkan region, characteristics, preservationReferencesAdilović, S., Andrijanić, M. (2005) Indigenous Breeds of Domestic Animals of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo.Agency of Food and Veterinary (AFV) of RM (2014) Cattle breed structure in Macedonia. [Online] Skopje: Agency of Food and Veterinary. Available at: http://www.fva.gov.mk/index.php?lang=mk [Accessed 1 March 2018].Brka, M., Zečević, E., Dokso, A., Rahmanović, A. (2007) Identifikacija i evidencija brojnog stanja autohtonih pasmina goveda i konja Bosne i Hercegovine. Sarajevo: Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.Brka, M., Omanović, H., Zečević, E., Dokso, A. (2011) Model the preservation of indigenous breeds. In: Sustainable conservation of livestock breeds diversity for the future: impact of globalisation of animal breeding and the loss of farm animal genetic diversity – a conflict? 8th Global Conference on the Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources. Tekirdag: Namik Kemal University, 455-458.Bunevski G., Saltamarski Z. (2017) Genetic erosion of genetic resources of cattle in the R. of Macedonia. In: 3rd International Symposium for Agriculture and Food – ISAF 2017. 18th to 20th of October 2017, Ohrid, Macedonia.Croatian Agricultural Agency (2017) Annual report for 2016 – Cattle Breeding. [Online] Križevci: Croatian Agricultural Agency. Available at: http://www.hpa.hr/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Govedarstvo.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2018].Institute for Animal Husbandry (2018) Main breeding program for autochthonous breeds of Serbia. Annual reports 2018. Belgrade: Institute for Animal Husbandry.Škrtić, Z., Levart, A., Jovanovac, S., Gantner, V., Kompan, D. (2008) Fatty Acid Profile in Milk of Busha, Cika and Simmental Breed. Acta agriculturae Slovenica, Suplement 2, 213-217

The effect of a cow’s health on the value of biochemical parameters in blood serum and milk

The aim of this research was to determine the effect of a cow’s health status (healthy, at risk, with mastitis; indicated by the number of somatic cell counts) on the value of biochemical parameters in blood serum and milk of Holsteins regarding the month of sampling. Therefore, blood and milk samples were taken from 75 Holstein cows during May, June and July and analyzed in the laboratory. The statistical analysis of data showed that the all effects included in the used statistical model (parity, stage of lactation and classes SCC) statistically significantly (p< 0.05) affected the variability of biochemical parameters in blood plasma and milk of Holstein cows. Furthermore, variability in all analyzed parameters due to the month of sampling was observed. Obtained results indicate that, if biochemical parameters in blood serum or milk are used as a bioindicator of occurrence of inflammation of organism (mastitis or some other disorder), a correction needs to be done accordingly to animal-related effects (parity, lactation stage) and the effect of month of sampling

Defining breed standards and breeding goals for domestic donkey

Domestic donkey is a transboundary breed present in many Balkan countries. According to the Law on Animal Production, in many Balkan countries, for every breed of domestic animals it is necessary to create a separate breeding programme. Based on the results of a study evaluating the main morphological, reproductive and functional traits in 47 domestic donkeys in Macedonia during 2017 and 2018, current standards and breeding goals were defined for the next national breeding programme of this breed. According to the fact that the domestic donkey is a metapopulation and transboundary breed in almost all Balkan countries, it is a good recommendation to create a regional breeding programme with flexible standards and breeding goals for this relative of horses for all Balkan countries together

Genomic diversity and population structure of the indigenous Greek and Cypriot cattle populations

BACKGROUND The indigenous cattle populations from Greece and Cyprus have decreased to small numbers and are currently at risk of extinction due to socio-economic reasons, geographic isolation and crossbreeding with commercial breeds. This study represents the first comprehensive genome-wide analysis of 10 indigenous cattle populations from continental Greece and the Greek islands, and one from Cyprus, and compares them with 104 international breeds using more than 46,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). RESULTS We estimated several parameters of genetic diversity (e.g. heterozygosity and allelic diversity) that indicated a severe loss of genetic diversity for the island populations compared to the mainland populations, which is mainly due to the declining size of their population in recent years and subsequent inbreeding. This high inbreeding status also resulted in higher genetic differentiation within the Greek and Cyprus cattle group compared to the remaining geographical breed groups. Supervised and unsupervised cluster analyses revealed that the phylogenetic patterns in the indigenous Greek breeds were consistent with their geographical origin and historical information regarding crosses with breeds of Anatolian or Balkan origin. Cyprus cattle showed a relatively high indicine ancestry. Greek island populations are placed close to the root of the tree as defined by Gir and the outgroup Yak, whereas the mainland breeds share a common historical origin with Bu\va. Unsupervised clustering and D-statistics analyses provided strong support for Bos indicus introgression in almost all the investigated local cattle breeds along the route from Anatolia up to the southern foothills of the Alps, as well as in most cattle breeds along the Apennine peninsula to the southern foothills of the Alps. CONCLUSIONS All investigated Cyprus and Greek breeds present complex mosaic genomes as a result of historical and recent admixture events between neighbor and well-separated breeds. While the contribution of some mainland breeds to the genetic diversity pool seems important, some island and fragmented mainland breeds suffer from a severe decline of population size and loss of alleles due to genetic drift. Conservation programs that are a compromise between what is feasible and what is desirable should focus not only on the still highly diverse mainland breeds but also promote and explore the conservation possibilities for island breeds

Data from: Conservation of a domestic metapopulation structured into related and partly admixed strains

Preservation of genetic diversity is one of the most pressing challenges in the planetary boundaries concept. Within this context, we focused on genetic diversity in a native, unselected and highly admixed domesticated metapopulation. A set of 1828 individuals from 60 different cattle breeds was analysed using a medium density SNP chip. Among these breeds, 14 Buša strains formed a metapopulation represented by 350 individuals, while the remaining 46 breeds represented the global cattle population. Genetic analyses showed that the scarcely selected and less differentiated Buša metapopulation contributed a substantial proportion (52.6%) of the neutral allelic diversity to this global taurine population. Consequently, there is an urgent need for synchronised maintenance of this highly fragmented domestic metapopulation, which is distributed over several countries without sophisticated infrastructure and highly endangered by continuous replacement crossing as part of the global genetic homogenisation process. This study collected and evaluated samples, data and genome-wide information and developed genome-assisted cross-border conservation concepts. To detect and maintain genetic integrity of the metapopulation strains, we designed and applied a composite test that combines six metrics based on additive genetic relationships, a nearest neighbour graph and the distribution of semi-private alleles. Each metric provides distinct information components about past admixture events and offers an objective and powerful tool for the detection of admixed outliers. The here developed conservation methods and presented experiences could easily be adapted to comparable conservation programmes of domesticated or other metapopulations bred and kept in captivity or under some other sort of human control

The genotypes from 55,266 SNP scored in 1,210 cattle

This file contains the genotypes from 55,266 SNP markers scored in 1,210 cattle. Samples were genotyped with the Illumina BovineSNP50 BeadChip version 1 and version 2. Genotypes were called using GenomeStudio