The objective of this study was to establish the impact of crossing the indigenous Cres sheep with Awassi and, respectively, Awassi and East Friesian sheep on the milk yield and quality. For this purpose, through regular monthly milk yield recordings a total of 824
individual milk samples from 139 sheep in the second lactation of the same flock were collected, of which: 46 purebred Cres sheep, CS; 33 crosses with 50 % Cres sheep and 50 % Awassi, CA; 60 crosses with 50 % Cres sheep, 25 % Awassi and 25 % East Friesian, CAEF. The obtained results show a significant (P<0.05; P<0.01) impact of the genotype and the lactation stage on the yield and chemical composition of milk, and the somatic cell count. The most milk was yielded by CAEF crosses (690 mL/ewe/day, i.e., 133.8 L per lactation) and the least by CS (340 mL/ewe/day, i.e., 58.48 L per lactation). The content of total solids, fat and protein increased as lactation advanced, whereas the trend of the lactose content was opposite. The highest content of total solids, fat and protein were established in the milk of the indigenous Cres sheep. A positive correlation was established between the amount of yielded milk and the somatic cell count, whereas a negative correlation was established between the amount of milk and the content of solids, fat and proteins.Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je utvrditi utjecaj križanja izvorne creske ovce s avasijem, odnosno s avasijem i istočnofrizijskom ovcom na proizvodnju i kakvoću mlijeka. Redovitim mjesečnim kontrolama mliječnosti prikupljeno je ukupno 830 pojedinačnih uzoraka mlijeka od 139 ovaca u drugoj laktaciji koje potječu iz istog stada (46 čistokrvnih creskih ovaca; 33 križanke creska (75 %) x avasi (25 %), CA; i 60 križanki creska (50 %) x avasi (25 %) x istočnofrizijska (25 %), CAEF). Genotip i stadij laktacije značajno su utjecali na proizvodnju i sastav mlijeka, kao i na broj somatskih stanica u mlijeku. Najviše mlijeka proizvele su križanke CAEF (690 mL po ovci dnevno, odnosno 133,8 L u laktaciji), a najmanje čistokrvna creska ovca (340 ml po ovci dnevno, odnosno 58,48 L u laktaciji). Sadržaji suhe tvari, mliječne masti i proteina povećavali su se s odmicanjem laktacije, dok je sadržaj laktoze imao suprotan trend. Najviši sadržaj suhe tvari, masti i bjelančevina utvrđen je u mlijeku creskih ovaca. Pozitivna korelacija utvrđena je između količine proizvedenog mlijeka i broja somatskih stanica u mlijeku, dok su negativne korelacije utvrđene između proizvodnje mlijeka i sadržaja suhe tvari, masti i proteina u mlijeku
