Polish Red Cattle breeding: past and present

Abstract

SummaryThe aim of this study was to characterise the Polish Red cattle breed, the only existing native breed in Poland. The origin and conformation of this breed and its historical development, distribution and performance were described. Moreover, the attention was paid to the attempts to improve the breed milk performance by crossbreeding with Jersey, Danish Red and Angler and beef performance by crossbreeding with Black-and-White, Red-and-White, Simmental and beef bulls.Before the Second World War the Polish Red held the rank of an international breed, and since the middle of the previous century had been found almost throughout Poland. In the 1950s it still constituted 22% of the whole cattle population in Poland. Indeed in 1954 the Polish Red cattle population amounted to over 1.5 million head. Currently, Polish Red cattle are in danger of extinction. Only 300 cows are included in the Program of Genetic Resources Conservation and scarcely several hundred embryos and semen doses are stored in the Semen Bank of the National Research Institute of Animal Production in Balice.In 2001 the number of recorded Polish Red milking cows was 1 201. Their average performance amounted to 3 786 kg of milk with 4.26% of fat and 3.39% of protein. However, milk yield of the cows at the best farms exceeded 5 500 kg.

Diversifying selection signatures among divergently selected subpopulations of Polish Red cattle

“…The Polish Red cattle is also characterized by a good adaptation to harsh environmental conditions, which is especially visible in the ability to limit the efficiency (enabling survival of seasonal feed deficiencies), as well as the relatively quick regeneration after condition loss. These features make the cattle of this breed well adapted to mountainous and submountainous living and production conditions (Szarek et al 2004 ).…”

Identification of differential selection traces in two Polish cattle breeds

“…The Polish Holstein and Polish Red breeds are also characterized by different fat content in milk and different share of muscle and fat tissue, including the presence of intramuscular fat (Szarek et al 2004;Kuczyń ska et al 2012). In our study, large differences in allele frequency were found in the region encompassing some members of FABP (fatty acid-binding protein) genes family (FABP4, 5 and 9).…”

“…The Polish Holstein and Polish Red breeds are also characterized by different fat content in milk and different share of muscle and fat tissue, including the presence of intramuscular fat (Szarek et al . ; Kuczyńska et al . ).…”

“…Although the productivity of the breed is poor, the breed may be used for multiple purposes and meets the needs of extensive and ecological breeding (Szarek et al . ).…”

“…One of the interesting breeds included in the program is Polish Red cattle which is characterized by valuable traits such as high resistance to adverse environmental conditions, good health, longevity, good fertility, ease of calving, great calf vigor and ease of rearing, as well as high biological value of milk. Although the productivity of the breed is poor, the breed may be used for multiple purposes and meets the needs of extensive and ecological breeding (Szarek et al 2004).…”