Аnalysis of the imports of Ile de France animals in Bulgaria, 2005-2023

Abstract

The meat sheep breed Ile-de-France was introduced from France to Bulgaria more than 50 years ago. However, the most imports took place in the recent 20 years and especially after the establishment in 2005 of a breeding association for this breed in Bulgaria. In this study, an attempt to analyse and review the imports from France in the last 18 years was made. It was based on the data about the imported animals provided by the Association for breeding of Ile-de-France sheep in Bulgaria. These animals were selected for import not only on the quality of their parents, but also on their genetic predisposal to classical Scrapie. As a result, most of the animals with known prion protein gene genotypes were of the preferred, low risk one. Within the parents, for which data was available, 34% of the sires were ranked as improvers of growth qualities, and 45% of the dams as mothers of sires. The animals were raised in similar climatic conditions in both countries. The animal with most progeny in the herdbook was also imported one, having 163 records as a sire. The continuous import of low risk genotype animals should have positive impact on the resistance of the local population against Scrapie. As there are also Ile-de-France animals raised in Bulgaria, it might be beneficial to monitor the genetic diversity of prion protein gene in the local population.