MODERN GENEALOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE LEBEDYN BREED AND WAYS OF ITS CONSERVATION

Abstract

The article presents the results of research on the peculiarities of formation of the genealogical structure of the Lebedyn breed. A historical search for the creation of individual genealogical lines, as well as the establishment of relationship between them were carried out. It is found out that the formation of the genealogical structure of the Brown cattle in the North-East of Ukraine began at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th century. For this purpose, in order to improve local livestock, stud bulls of the Schwyz breed and its varieties were regularly imported, mainly from abroad. A long-term work resulted in the formation of more than twenty lines of the Lebedyn breed. They came mainly from nine stud bulls of foreign breeding (or descendants of stud bulls imported from abroad). Certain lines were obtained as a result of the use of cross lines, as well as with the use of Jersey stud bulls. The material for the study was the State Books of Stud Bulls of the Lebedyn and Schwyz Cattle Breeds in eight volumes. To characterize stud bulls, information on the origin, milk productivity of mother cows and belonging to the line was used. The current state of the genealogical structure of breeding stock was assessed based on the data of bonitation of breeding cattle in breeding farms of Sumy Region. The genealogical structure of stud bulls whose semen is kept in a deep frozen state was determined by using the catalog of bulls of dairy and dairy-meat breeds for the reproduction of breeding stock in 2023. It is established that most of the cattle are descended from the lines of the Schwyz breed of both North American and Western European breeding. On the farms of the region, the breeding stock of of the Lebedyn breed is assigned to the two Lebedyn lines: Chutkyi and Bravyi. The available stock of semen of stud bulls of the Lebedyn breed and their crossbreeds with the Schwyz breed of nine lines (Bravyi 1510, Chutkyi 4281, Balkon 1799, Maket 4307, Luck 964, Minus 370, Hill 107915, Suprime 124652, Elegant 148551) enables to carry out work on the conservation of the Lebedyn breed. The organization of custom mating enables to avoid unwanted inbreeding. Such work should be carried out under the supervision of scientists. On the farms of the region, measures are being taken to expand the genealogical structure of this population through the use of stud bulls of the original Brown German breed. The descendants of these stud bulls are used in the field of reproduction on the breeding stock of the Lebedyn breed in Sumy Region.