EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BREEDING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE SIMMENTAL CATTLE IN THE ALTAI REGION
The Simmental cattle herd of the Altai Region is improved regarding a complex of economic characters; the genotypes of Austrian and German breeding are used. The research goals were to evaluate the effectiveness of breeding work with the population for the last 10 years and to study the quality of animals obtained from bulls of different breeding. Two trial groups of adult cows (from bulls of domestic and foreign breeding) were formed. The following groups of characters were studied: milk yield and milk quality; body type including udder properties; reproduction level. Milk processability was studied in the Laboratory of Analytical Research of the Federal Altai Scientific Center of Agro-Biotechnologies according to the standard methods. Selection and genetic parameters were calculated for the main indices. It was found that the breeding work with the Altai population of Simmental cattle was quite effective. The daughters of the bulls of Austrian and German breeding had the following higher indices: butterfat and protein content - by 0.08-0.11%; dry solids content - by 0.21%; casein content - by 0.14%; the amount of milk of the 1st and 2nd class of heat stability - by 24.6%; the percentage of cows with body condition scores “excellent” and “good+” - by 5.0%; the number of cows with bowl-shaped udder - by 7.0%; some udder measurements (length, depth and girth) - by 2.2-7.6 cm; service period duration - shorter by 7.5 days. The breeding and genetic parameters of the dairy characters have low values, and there is an inverse correlation (-0.22 ± 0.18) of milk yield and protein content; that suggests the need to select cows according to the following indices: milk yield × butterfat weight percentage × protein weight percentage.