The decreasing role of native genetic resources in modern Ukrainian pig production

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Date
2013
Authors
Kravchenko, O. I.
Getya, A. A.
Kodak, O.
Кравченко, Оксана Іванівна
Гетя, Андрій Анатолійович
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wageningen Academic Publishers
Abstract
Conservation o f animal genetic recourses is a global issue and the reported rate of breed extinctions is of great concerns. In the livestock sector o f Ukraine genetic erosion concerns mostly local, native breeds which are replaced by a narrow range of high-yielding exotic breeds considered to have a competitive advantage in more intensive production systems. There is a big threat that Ukraine loses its national genetic recourses being replaced by breeds not well adapted to local climatic, environmental and technological conditions. Currently there are 6 native pig breeds in Ukraine: Mirgorodska (M), the Ukrainian white steppe (UWS), the Ukrainian spotted steppe (USS), Poltava meat (PM), Ukrainian meat (UM) and the Red white belt (RWBB). An analysis o f occurrence and geographical distribution o f Ukrainian pig breeds revealed for the years 2006-2012 a massive reduction in the number of breeding farms keeping those native breeds, namely: M: by 62.5%; UWS: by 72.7%; PM: by 68.4%; UM: at 43.5%; RWBB: by 41.2%. Most critical is the number of sows: Mirgorodska: 383 heads; Ukrainian white steppe: 334 heads; Poltava meat: 469 heads; and Ukrainian spotted steppe: 26 heads. Therefore the most urgent problem o f Ukraine, is the development and implementation of strategies to maintain its autochthonous animal breeds, but a conservation program cannot be established without reliable characterization and monitoring o f breeds. Breed certification, establishing definitions for what to be considered as pure bred, detection and timely elimination o f crossbred animals, are currently considered to be the most urgent tasks.
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Keywords
pig, breed, native genetic recourses, pig production
Citation
Kravchenko O., Getya A., Kodak O. The decreasing role of native genetic resources in modern Ukrainian pig production//Book of Abstracts of the 64th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science. - No.19 (2013) - P.189.