The article presents the results of research, the purpose of which is to carry out a comparative characterization of economically useful traits in cows of the Yaroslavl breed in herds of the Vologda and Yaroslavl regions. In the course of the study, we solved the following tasks: to establish the genealogical structure of regional populations of the Yaroslavl and Vologda regions, to evaluate and compare the indicators of milk productivity, reproductive qualities and live weight of cows from different regions. The novelty of the work is due to the comparative characteristic of two modern populations of the Yaroslavl breed in breeding farms of neighboring and interrelated regions. The object of the study is cows of the Yaroslavl breed with the Holstein bloodlines from 0 to 88%. The total number of studied animals amounted to 2,769 animals, including 1,446 animals from the Yaroslavl Region and 1,323 animals from the Vologda Region. A high proportion of animals of the Holstein lines in the Yaroslavl and Vologda populations was found – 74.6 and 89.1%, respectively, indicating repeated infusion of the Holstein blood. The Yaroslavl population is characterized by high milk yields (+2,137; P ≥ 0.999), live weight, early maturity and high mass fraction of protein (+0.16%; P ≥ 0.999) in milk. In turn, the Vologda population is characterized by a high mass fraction of fat (+0.42%; P ≥ 0.999) in milk and the highest age of cows in lactations (+0.71 lactations; P ≥ 0.999). Both populations have individual features that serve as a source of genetic diversity and a tool for further improvement of the Yaroslavl cattle population
Keywords
cattle, yaroslavl breed, milk productivity, reproduction, genealogical structure