TORI HORSE BREED IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article presents the results of research on the Ukrainian population of the Tori horse breed. The relevance of the work is due to the need to preserve the unique gene pool of the breed, which originates from purebred breeding horses imported from Estonia in the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, a significant database of the Tori breed of Ukrainian selection has been accumulated, and only in 2019, with international cooperation with the Association of Tori horses of Estonia, the breeding register of horses of the Tori breed of Ukraine was formed. There are 136 mares and 48 stallions registered in Ukrainian farms that have passed a genetic examination and were used in reproduction. Horses are evaluated on a set of characteristics following the instructions on the evaluation of breeding horses. The genealogical structure was evaluated by the method of family analysis with the establishment of kinship relations with the ancestor of the genealogical line. The processes of microevolution of the Tori breed in Ukraine are described and the main factors influencing the dynamics of the number and quality of livestock are given. In contrast to the Estonian gene pool, the horses evaluated during the expedition survey of the Tori breed of domestic selection is mostly classified as a heavy sled type and differ in their original colors (palomino, buckskin, flaxen chestnut, isabello, roan). It is the original suit and universal working productivity that determine their distribution. An assessment of the exterior and measurements of the body of horses found that horses of modern reproductive composition significantly predominate in height at the withers, oblique length of the body and the girth of the pastern of horses imported in the 1980s from Estonia, mares also predominate in chest girth, and stallions are noticeably inferior. At the present stage of breeding, purebred breeding has been restored in the direction of obtaining horses of the heavy sled type with universal working productivity. An assessment of the genealogical structure established that stallions-producers of the Tori breed of the Ukrainian population belong to the classic Tori lines of Atilla 3101 T, Hingstar 317 T and Halis 348 T, there are also representatives of the Hanoverian line Ferro and the Trakenen line Kupferhammer. Broodmares are primarily descended from the Atilla line of 3.101 T (53.8 %) through the sons and grandsons of Apollo 19033 T and from the thoroughbred line of Dark Ronald (5.26%) through the crossbred Emin and his sons. The reproductive composition is formed by mares from 10 breeding families and nests that have existed since the creation of the breed: Hilby, Leidulaps, Pyayasuke, Valle, Desi, Iduani, Lorna, Buri, Salme, Alma. The conducted research shows that the originality and practicality of the domestic gene pool of the Tori breed require preservation and further improvement, in connection with international cooperation in the direction of breeding records and exchange of genetic material with the originator country.