The decreasing role of native genetic resources in modern Ukrainian pig production
Loading...
Date
2013
Authors
Kravchenko, O. I.
Getya, A.
Kodak, O.
Кравченко, Оксана Іванівна
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.
Description
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.