REVIEW OF THE GOAT SECTOR IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA: DISTRIBUTION, FARM SIZE, BREED STRUCTURE AND MILK PRODUCTION CAPACITIES

Goat sector is livestock branch that has its own specific unique history. Еxtensive to semi-extensive breeding system is the most prevalent in the country with moderate level of milk production. Recognition of the importance of goat breeding can be noted by continuous state support in the goat breeding. Variation of national goat flock is present with appearance of ascending and descending trends. There is a decrease in the number of farms, especially farms that breed from 1 to 5 and from 6 to10 heads, but also an increase in the number of heads per farm, especially on farms with size from 25 to 50 and from 51 to 100. Most prevalent goat breeds in the country is Balkan goat (47.51 %). Different distribution of goat breeds is recorded in the country regions, East and Southeast region are leading regions in goat breeding. Raw milk production is in the range from 13584 t in 2015 up to 22864 t in 2018. Moderate milk yield per goat is present, the highest in 2011 (298 litres) and the lowest in 2015 (243 litres). Average purchase price of raw goat milk ranged between 0.29 and 0.31 euros/per litre in the period 2013-2019, which istwice less than the purchase price in EU countries. The improvement and utilization of the genetic capacity of the goat breeds, improvement of farming and feeding practices and continuous state support, education and research, as well as better organization of the farmers can be pointed out as general recommendations for improvement of the sector

REVIEW OF THE SHEEP SECTOR IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA: DISTRIBUTION, FARM SIZE, BREED STRUCTURE AND MILK PRODUCTION CAPACITIES

Sheep breeding has an important role in the country even if changes are present in the sector. The majority of the national farms in the country are farms with a size up to 50 heads (35.75%), the second most present farms (35.12%) are farms between 301-500 heads. The highest number of sheep are bred in the Polog region (20.04 %), the second most dominant regions are Eastern (15.97%) and Pelagonia region (15.35%), while in the rest of the country regions sheep are present with less than 15%. Highly represented in the breed structure of the sheep population in the country are the Ovcepolka (26.96%) and Sharplaninska pramenka (26.42%), highly dairy productive sheep breeds are present with less than 1% of the national flock. A high presence of different types of crosses is present in the national flock. Favourable structure of breeding categories is present in the national flock even if decreasing trend in a total number of sheep is detected. Variation in the number of milking sheep and average raw milk per milking sheep is noticed. Future activities in the sector should be oriented towards the improvement of genetic capacities, improvement of breeding and feeding strategies

DNA MICROSATELLITE INFORMATIVENESS, ALLELE FREQUENCIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION IN THE GENOME OF MACEDONIAN AUTOCHTHONOUS SHEEP POPULATIONS

As a result of natural selection, management system, environment pressure, different populations of Pramenka sheep in South East Europe developed distinctive productive and phenotype characteristics which are sufficient to distinguish them. In this study, the informativeness of fifteen DNA microsatellite markers in the genome of 105 individuals from three indigenous sheep populations in the country (Sharplaninian, Karakachanian and Ovchepolian) was analysed. In overall population, 281 different alleles were observed. The average number of alleles per locus in total population was 18.73, the mean He in overall population was 0.824, so all loci were highly polymorphic with PIC value higher than 0.5. Mean number of alleles per locus, at population level, were 12.13, 11.53 and 13.27 alleles in the genome of Sharplaninian, Ovchepolian and Karakachanian sheep populations, respectively. Results from this research will improve knowledge of the sheep genetic resources in the country at DNA level and will provide appropriate information for further conservation

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

THE EFFECT OF EXTENDING RAM SPERM BEFORE AND AFTER CRYOPRESERVATION ON THEIR VIABILITY AND VELOCITY

The current study aimed to assess the effect of adding cryopreserving extender (soy-bean lecithin-SBLE), reduced glutathione (GSH), and seminal plasma (SP) before and after thawing on viability and velocity of cryopreserved ram sperm in liquid nitrogen. Fresh ejaculates (Ovchepolska pramenka rams, n=10) were collected and pooled. One portion was extended up to 50 million/ml with SBLE (control C-a), SBLE and GSH 5 mM (E1-a), SBLE and SP 20 vol% (E2-a), and SBLE, GSH 5 mM and SP 20 vol% (E3-a), respectively. The second portion was extended with SBLE to 100 million/ml. Both portions were cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen. Following thawing, the second portion was extended in the same manner to 50 million/ml and was separated into C-b, E1-b, E2-b, and E3-b, respectively. Each group was sampled in ten replicates immediately following thawing. Thawed samples were analyzed for viability (Hancock-2 stain), and velocity (Hamilton Thorne, USA). Each sample included at least 200 cells and the results were expressed in percent values (mean±SEM). Normality (Kolmogorov) and variance comparison (factorial-ANOVA) were performed in Statistica 8 with a significance level p<0.05. E2-a (57.58% ±2.40) and E3-a (56.94% ±1.85) yielded significantly higher viability compared to the C-a (40.73 ±1.53). There were no significant differences between C-b (50.00% ±2.33), E1-b (43.61% ±1.37), E2-b (49.16% ±1.50), and E3-b (48.50% ±1.85). In conclusion, the addition of SBLE, GSH, and SP prior vs after cryopreservation has a significant effect on thawed ram sperm viability and velocity

SUBSIBREED : overview and assessment of support measures for endangered livestock breeds : final project report

Edited by Drago Kompan, Marija Klopčič, Elżbieta Martyniu