age at first covering, age at first fertilization, age at first foaling, arabian mares, reproductive utilization
Abstract
An analysis was made of the reproductive utilization of mares from the Purebred Arabian and Shagya-Arabian breed in the only National State Stud Farm Kabiyuk near Shumen. Stud book records and the breeding registers for a 32-year period (1980-2012) were used for the analysis. Thirty-nine Purebred Arabian mares and 52 mares from the Shagya-Arabian breed were included in the study. It was established that the average (LS) age at first covering of the mares of Purebred Arabian breed was 1584,2 ± 29,5 days (4,34 years), the average age at first fertilization was 1682,9 ± 24,1 days (4,61 years) and the average age at first foaling was 2117,7 ± 69,9 days (5,80 years). For the mares from the Shagya-Arabian breed, the average values of those traits were 1617,1 ± 18,1(4,43 years), 1673,9 ± 18,8 (4,59 years) and 2202,4 ± 53,9 days (6,03 years), respectively. The mares from the Purebred Arabian breed were used for breeding for 11,0 ± 1,04 years in average, to the age of 15,3 ± 1,06 years, and those of Shagya-Arabian breed for 12,2 ± 1,01 years to the age of 16,4 ± 1,19 years, respectively. The breed is not a significant source of variation in reproductive performance of the mares.
