engleski

Phenotypic and genetic variability of some morphological traits of Nonius horse in Serbia

In the process of intensification of livestock production, low-productive breeds are suppressed and less competitive. On the other hand, cares about these breeds is of great importance because they represent a source of genes for improving health, resilience and better adaptation to specific environmental conditions. Due to increased application of technology and mechanization in the agriculture and transport, Nonius has lost its former rolewhich ultimately resulted in negative effect on the population size. In order to prevent further population reduction and loss of genes, Nonius are included in the program for the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources of domestic animals. Breeding objective of the program is to preserve breeding of strong harness horses, noble and unique looks with distinctive race characteristics of exterior, correct movement for the harness and the riding, which is usable for traditional agricultural work and equestrian tourism, therapeutic riding, recreation etc.The average height at withers (HW), chest girth (CG) and cannon bone circumference (CBC) were 158.33cm, 181.97cm and 21.40cm, respectively. Heritability estimates were 0.58 for HW, 0.52 for CG and 0.55 for CBC. The high heritability estimates indicate that selection based on horse phenotypic value induce faster genetic change in these traits and that animal's phenotype is a good indicator of genetic merit or breeding value.

Nonius horse ; population size ; breeding objectives ; morphological traits ; phenotype and genetic parameters

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