EVALUATION OF SELECTION TRAITS AND THEIR VARIABILITY IN PUREBRED HORSES OF THE MAIN BREEDS IN BELARUS

Abstract

The competitiveness of domestic horse breeding can only be ensured with appropriate directed breeding work, the most important part of which is conducting research to improve the system for assessing the genetic value of horses based on predicting their productivity using an extended database of ancestors and all available information contained in the family register. The article presents the results of the evaluation of selection traits and their variability in purebred horses of the main breeds in Belarus : Belarusian Harness, Russian Heavy Draft, Trakehner and Hanoverian. It has been established that over a 10-year period of using programs aimed to improve horses of these breeds, the indicators for evaluating stallions and mares have basically reached the target level, including measurements. They exceed the requirements of the breed standards, especially in the Russian Heavy Draft, where the horses are close to the parameters of large types in terms of development. The positive dynamics of changes in withers height and chest circumference of evaluated mares over the course of two generations of ancestors predominantly on the maternal side has been established. The horses studied are characterized by a comparative uniformity of exterior and constitution parameters, but a high variability of performance indicators.