engleski

Characteristics and utilisation of donkeys in Croatia

The results of the fhenotype research show the need for division of the donkey population in Croatia into three types: Littoral-Dinaric type, Kvarner (North-Adriatic) type and Istrian type. Types are statistically significantly differ in the wither height, chest circumference, tibia circumference, as well as in the majority of other examined body measures. Types are characterised by particular features of the body colour, the size of the body frame and proportions body measures. Transferrin allele frequencies indicate the significant difference of Littoral-Dinaric type in relation to populations living in the area of Kvarner islands and Istria. Albumin allele frequencies have not indicated a significant difference between types. The smallest genetic distance of Istrian type population and Kvarner type points to the fact that these two populations differentiated later with the significant influence of the Littoral-Dinaric type genome and the population of donkey from Northern Italy. Regarding the difference of donkey types in Croatia in relation to populations of donkeys in some other countries showed the smallest distance towards the population of donkeys in Morocco, and the largest towards the population of ‘ Feral donkey’ from the USA. The results of a microsatellite analysis revealed relatively high degree of heterozygosity in three populations of donkeys. The expected mean heterozygosity were in the range between 0.66 and 0.70, and were lower than in a comparable study on Catalonian donkeys but higher than in the Baudet du Poitou donkey population. Several 'private alleles' were found, that can be used in breed identification. Typing the sequence of the hipervariable part of D-loop region of mt DNA three haplotypes have been determined (Y, W, Ws). Haplotypes have not been strictly separated according to subpopulations. In Littoral Dinaric donkey all haplotypes have been noticed, in North Adriatic W and Y, and in Istrian donkey only Y haplotype. For more reliable knowledge on genetic structure of the Croatian population of donkeys and its closeness, i.e. distance from other populations of both groups (E. asinus europeaus and E. asinus somaliens) of donkeys, the mutual cooperation in changing research material and information on results is needed. In this respect, we appreciate a lot our initial co-operation with colleagues in Portugal (University of Porto).

Characteristics; utilisation; donkeys; Croatia

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