ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY OF THE LOCAL DUAL-PURPOSE CATTLE

Base economic characteristics (total revenues, total costs, profit and profitability ratio) of the Slovak Pinzgau breed were calculated in this study. Under the actual production and economic conditions of the breed, production system is operated with loss (-457 € per cow and per year) and with negative profitability ratio (-20%). Optimisation of the production parameters on the level defined in the breed standard (5,200 kg milk per cow and year, 92% for conception rate of cows, 404 days of calving interval and 550 g in daily gain of reared heifers) and improved udder health traits (clinical mastitis incidence and somatic cells score) was of positive impact on the total revenues (+34%), on the effective utilisation of costs (+105%) and balanced profit of dairy systems. Next to the positive profitability of the system, higher quality and security of dairy milk products should be mentioned there. Moreover, direct subsidies as an important factor of positive economic result of dairy cattle systems has to be pointed as well. Subsidies should be provided to compensate the real biological limitation of the local breed farmed in marginal areas. However, improvement of the production parameters of the Slovak Pinzgau breed is recommended with the same attention to reach the economic sustainability of dairy production system. To reach economic sustainability of the breed from practical point of view, the farmer activity should be aimed especially to the enhanced herd management

A main factors affecting average number of teats in pigs

The influence of factors (breed, year and season of farrowing, herd, parity order, sire of litter, total number of born piglets - TNB, number of piglets born alive - NBA, number of weaned piglets - NW, and linear and quadratic regression) on the number of teats, found for all piglets in the litter till ten days after born, expressed as arithmetic mean for each litter as sum of all teats number of each piglet in appropriate litter divided by number of piglets in this litter at first litter (ANT1) and second and subsequent litters (ANT2+) were analysed. The coefficient of determination was 0.46 and 0.33 for ANT1 and ANT2+, respectively. The statistically high influence (P<0.001) on ANT1 and ANT2+ was determined for year and season of farrowing, herd, parity order (only for ANT2+) and sire of litter effects. Impact of breed was found only on ANT2+ (P<0.001). The rest of factors have negligible of no impact on traits.  Based on the data available for analyses, obtained results will serve as a relevant set-up in developing the model for genetic evaluation for these traits

Economic Importance of the Traits for Slovak Pinzgau Breed Reared in Dairy and Cow-calf System

The bio-economic approach was used to calculate economic weights for twelve production (dairy and growth), functional and carcass traits of Slovak Pinzgau cattle raised in dairy (A) and cow-calf (B) system. The breeding heifers for own herd replacement with ten reproduction cycles at maximum was produced. The sale of surplus male and female calves was assumed after finishing of weaning period in both systems. Milk production is with quota limited in Slovakia, but the quotas limits aren’t filling up if the whole dairy population is taken into account. In the system A, the base price per milk value was corrected according to the fat and protein content and somatic cells count. The marginal economic weights were calculated as the numeric derivation of the profit function. Marginal values were standardized (multiplied by the genetic standard deviation of the appropriate trait) and expressed as relative values (percentage proportion). The marginal economic weight for milk yield (+0.20 €) and for dressing percentage (+0.39 €) were the lowest in both systems. The highest marginal importance was found for production lifetime of cows in system A (+69.26 € per year and cow), and in system B (+52.55 € per year and cow), respectively. Functional traits achieved the highest marginal values in both systems. But the relative economic values for the functional traits complex represent only 37.04% in system A, and 73.52% in system B, respectively. The proportion of functional, production and carcass traits complexes was 37.04: 62.73: 0.23 in system A, and 73.52: 26.07: 0.41 in system B. The highest relative economic importance was observed for the 305 d milk production (37.70%) in system A and yearling weight (25.35%) in system B, respectively. Subsidies in the calculations were of positive effect on the profitability in the system B but it was not sufficient for positive profitability in the system A. The system A achieves negative profitability irrespective on assigned subsidies. The system B has positive profitability after accounting subsidies

Impact of udder health on economics of dairy goat

The impact of udder health on the economics of dairy farms of White Shorthaired goat was investigated using the program ECOWEIGHT. Impact on the farm economics (profit in €/goat/year and profitability in %) was analysed indirectly thought variation in the level of production traits (-10%) along with the variation in the labour and veterinary costs of a goat (+10%). Variation in production level (given in brackets) resulted to decreasing of annual revenues of a goat e.g. by 90 € (milk yield), 30 € (fat content), 16 € (conception rate), 20 € (litter size). The appropriate change in the costs ranged from -17 € to 17 € when milk yield and conception rate was evaluated. The profitability of the system was deteriorated by 4 p.p. to 19 p.p. when litter size and cumulated change of all inputs was applied. In the last mentioned variant the production was declined (-58 kg of milk sold, -0.21 kids born), unfavourable change in the flock structure (+4 females/100 goats for replacement) and in the lifetime of goats (-0.5 year) was found. Indirect economic consequences of udder health problems are high and can be defined more properly when a comprehensive data for the breed will be available

Claw Disease Incidence as a New Trait in the Breeding Goal for the Czech Holstein Population

The aim of the present study was to calculate an economic value for claw disease (CLD) incidence, and to estimate its correlated genetic and economic responses to selection, using an index with diverse selection criteria, within the Czech Holstein cattle population. Information sources in the index were either leg type traits or CLD incidence, or both. The estimated economic value for CLD was 100.08 € per case per cow per year. According to the current Czech Holstein sire index, the leg index with the weight traits reduced the CLD incidence indirectly by -0.02 cases per generation (economic response of 2.01 €). The highest reduction in the CLD incidence (-0.04 cases) was obtained using the combined index, which included both CLD incidence and type traits (economic response of 4.1 €). The reliability of the investigated indices ranged between 17% and 56%. Among the traits in the combined index, the highest contribution to the response in CLD incidence was observed for CLD incidence, followed by the type traits, locomotion and legs. The inclusion of claw health as a new breeding objective trait, and the implementation of CLD incidence in the routine breeding value estimations and the sire index would be beneficial for the Czech Holstein population

Breeding Objectives of Dam Pig Breeds of the Czech National Breeding Program Based on Reproduction Traits

Reproduction traits as total number of piglets born (TNB), piglets alive born (PBA), piglets weaned (NW) and farrowing interval (FI) play important role in dam pig breeds. Main aim of the study was to calculate economic weights and consequently to estimate the genetic and economic selection response on PBA and FI within the Czech dam population of pigs. PBA and FI were defined in the aggregate genotype and the estimated breeding values (EBV) of four traits (TNB, PBA, NW and FI) were assumed as the candidate traits for construction of the index. Four variants of reproduction selection index A) based on PBA and FI, index B - based on PBA, NW, FI and the indices C) and D) based on four reproduction traits with different proportion of traits were taken into account. Economic weight of traits calculated by the bio-economic model were 23.57 € and -3.52 € for PBA and FI, respectively. The highest genetic (0.180 piglet born alive and 0.00 days of FI per year, respectively) and economic (10.05 € and 0.00 € per year for PBA and FI, respectively) response on selection was calculated in index C. The Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients between indices A to D and for top 1%, 2%, 5% and 10% of animals were close to one (0.978 – 0.994) and significant

POPULATION ANALYSIS OF THE LOCAL ENDANGERED PŘEŠTICE BLACK-PIED PIG BREED

The pedigree analysis of the local endangered Přeštice Black-Pied pig breed (n=19 289) was performed. Animals born within the period 2012-2014 were assumed as the reference population (n=1 374). The pedigree completeness index reached 100% for four generations back. The 100 % of the genetic pool was explained by 66 ancestors. Although all animals of the reference population were inbred, 57% of them had inbreeding less than five percent. Average inbreeding, co-ancestry coefficient and rate of inbreeding reached 4.93%, 13.48% and 1.29% in reference population, respectively. The effective population size calculated by four different methods varied from 32 to 91 animals in 2014. Average generation interval, average family size for sire and dam parents was 2.5, 17.46 and 6.5 animals, respectively. Total number of founders, effective number of founders, effective number of founders’ genomes and effective number of non-founders genomes reached values 299, 98.05, 21.92 and 28.23 founders, respectively. The average genetic diversity (GD) loss was 13.71% in reference population. The GD loss has increased within the last three year period mainly due to the random genetic drift (77.6%) and by unequal contribution of founders (22.4%). The Preštice Black-Pied breed is highly endangered with GD loss. Mating of closely related animals has to be prevented in breeding and mating program of this breed

Fatty Acids Profile of Intramuscular Fat in Light Lambs Traditionally and Artificially Reared

The quality of 40 carcasses of light lambs of the synthetic population of Slovak Dairy sheep from (a) artificial rearing (AR) and (b) traditional rearing (TR) was assessed on the basis of fatty acids profile of intramuscular fat (IMF). Lambs from AR in comparison with TR were of lower quality as assessed on the basis of fatty acids (FAs) profile. The content of conjugated linolic acid (CLA) in the fat of TR lambs was severalfold higher (0.749 vs. 0.193 g.100g-1 FAME, P<0.001) than in AR lambs. Similarly, the content of trans-vaccenic (TVA), á-linolenic (ALA), rumenic (RA), eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was in TR lambs significantly higher (P<0.001) than in AR lambs (0.955 vs. 0.111; 0.715 vs. 0.251; 0.672 vs. 0.148; 0.352 vs. 0.061; 0.252 vs. 0.079 g.100g-1 FAME). In contrary, the content of linoleic acid (LA), the ratio of LA/ALA and n-6/n-3 in AR lambs was higher than in TR lambs (9.07 vs. 4.81 g.100 g-1 FAME; 39.11 vs. 6.80; 14.56 vs. 3.25, P<0.001). In TR lambs the content of n-3 PUFA and BCFA was significantly higher (P<0.001) than in AR lambs (2.08 vs. 0.84 and 1.95 vs. 0.45). The value of thrombogenic index was higher in AR lambs in comparison with TR lambs (1.44 vs. 1.31; P<0.05). Significant differences between FAs of IMF of ram lambs and ewe lambs were observed only in the case of arachidonic acid (P<0.05)

The frequency of fractures of the locomotor apparatus in different periods of the middle ages

Focus of this work was to estimate the frequency of moving apparatus injuries in skeletal material originating from archeological research on the site of former Oškobrh graveyard near Poděbrady. Method of five segments was applied - diaphyses of long bone was treated as a single segment. In contrast to other authors, clavicle, scapula and pelvis were also involved in this study. 119 juvenile subjects were evaluated, and in the whole set only one fracture was discovered. In a set of 285 adult subjects, 11 fractures were discovered on skeletal remains of ten individuals, which represents 3,5 % of the whole set, encomapssing both medieval and modern funerals. The set was split in three groups in accordance with archeological dating for further evaluation and statistical elaboration. Two medieval sets dating 13th - 14th century, and 14th - 15th century, and modern group dating 16th - 17th century. The dependance of fracture frequency between men and women in medieval groups was tested, it was however not confirmed on either 5 % and further 1 % of significance level. Also, the dependance between left and right body side, and between men and women group belonging in 13th - 15th century was tested. Neither case has proven to be a significant difference in bone fracture frequencies, again on 5 % and 1 %..

Symptoms of skeletal trauma in archeological skeletal collections

Katedra antropologie a genetiky člověkaDepartment of Anthropology and Human GeneticsPřírodovědecká fakultaFaculty of Scienc