FACTORS AFFECTING VARIABILITY OF UDDER MORPHOLOGY TRAITS OF SHEEP

Selekcija mliječnih pasmina ovaca je, sve donedavno, bila usmjerena gotovo isključivo na povećanje količine proizvedenog mlijeka pa tako danas tipične mliječne pasmine ovaca proizvode i nekoliko puta više mlijeka od pasmina selekcioniranih za meso i vunu. Međutim, zbog stalne težnje za sve većom proizvodnjom mlijeka, masa vimena postaje prevelika te ju suspenzorni sustav vimena ne može izdržati pa se sve češće pojavljuju slučajevi njegove rupture. Navedeno bitno skraćuje proizvodni vijek životinje te nepovoljno utječe na prikladnost vimena strojnoj mužnji. Stoga je u posljednje vrijeme sve veći interes za dodavanjem tzv. funkcionalnih osobina vimena (poput morfologije vimena) u uzgojne programe u ovčarstvu, s ciljem povećanja biološke i ekonomske učinkovitosti, i to ne povećanjem proizvodnje, nego smanjenjem njezinih troškova. Ekonomska važnost morfologije ovčjeg vimena je u posljednje vrijeme sve naglašenija i u Hrvatskoj budući da se u sve više stada počinje primjenjivati strojna mužnja. Stoga je cilj ovog rada bio prikazati najvažnije čimbenike varijabilnosti morfologije ovčjeg vimena.Until recently, selection of dairy sheep breeds was focused almost exclusively on increasing the amount of milk produced and so today they produce several times more milk than breeds selected for meat and wool. However, due to the permanent striving for increasing sheep milk production udder weight becomes too great, and suspensory system can not withstand this overweight so it ruptures more often. That significantly shortens the duration of animal’s production life and adversely affects udder suitability for machine milking. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in adding a so-called functional udder traits in sheep breeding programs recently, such as udder morphology, with the aim of increasing the biological and economic efficiency of milk production, not by increasing production, but reducing its costs. The economic importance of sheep udder morphology has lately been more pronounced also in Croatia because in more and more herds machine milking starts to apply. Therefore, the aim of this study was to show the most important factors that affect the variability of sheep udder morphology