OKSANA ILINA*, EDITA MEŠKINYTE AND GIEDRE JARIENE
Animal Production Research and Innovation Center, Agriculture Academy Bioeconomy Research Institute, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
*(e-mail: oksana.ilina@vdu.lt; Mobile: +3 70629 14555)
(Received: June 10, 2023; Accepted: July 22, 2023)
ABSTRACT
Monitoring studies on Lithuanian sheep breeds have shown a predominance of scrapie resistant groups. Sheep with genotypes G1 ARR/ARR and G2 ARR/ARQ belonged to the biggest group (34-42%). Analysis of genotype was made on different sheep breeds. The most resistant animals with the ARR/ARR genotype were found to be Lithuanian Blackhead and Suffolk sheep. Therefore, the biggest number of Suffolk sheep of risk group G1 was 62% and in the sheep of Lithuanian Blackhead breed group G 2 was 49%. Genotyping of the sheep helps to identify their resistance and susceptibility to scrapie, which is very important and useful for successful breeding and selection.
Key words : Scrapie, genotypes, Lithuanian, sheep breeds, Suffolk, Teksel