Search Results (3)

The Mugalzhar horse is an important native breed of Kazakhstan, valued for its adaptability, milk production, and meat productivity under extensive pasture-based management. This study evaluated the relationships among first-lactation milk yield, productive longevity, lifetime milk production, growth, morphometric traits, and milk composition in the Mugalzhar horse breed using data from 100 mares with complete lifetime production records, 108 adult mares and 12 stallions for morphometric evaluation, and 68 foals (35 colts and 33 fillies) for growth analysis. The study was conducted on Mugalzhar horses maintained at the “Senim” farm in the Turkestan region of Kazakhstan. Morphometric measurements of adult horses, growth dynamics of foals from birth to 18 months of age, milk productivity records, productive longevity indicators, and milk composition data were analyzed. PCA, Pearson correlation analysis, and HCA were applied to assess relationships among productive and compositional traits. Adult stallions and mares closely conformed to breed standards, with stallions exceeding mares by approximately 7.8% in live weight. Foals exhibited intensive postnatal growth, with live weight increasing 6.8–6.9-fold between birth and 18 months of age. Milk yield increased from 722.3 kg during the first lactation to 986.9 kg during the fifth lactation before declining in later lactations, whereas milk composition remained relatively stable. Moderate-to-high first-lactation milk yield groups (G3–G4) achieved the greatest lifetime milk production (24,961–25,997 kg), longest productive life (7.9–8.5 years), and highest number of completed lactations (6.6–6.9). PCA revealed two major biological gradients representing productivity and longevity, while HCA identified G3–G4 as the most favorable production cluster. Milk fat and protein concentrations were negatively associated with milk yield traits. Moderate first-lactation milk yield was associated with the greatest lifetime productivity and longest productive herd life, whereas extremely high first-lactation milk yield was not associated with superior lifetime performance. These findings suggest that first-lactation milk yield may be considered together with longevity and other functional traits in future breeding programs for Mugalzhar horses; however, the results should be interpreted in light of the observational design of the present study. Full article

Mugalzhar horses are a relatively young native breed of Kazakhstan, prized for meat and milk production and adaptation. This study was conducted to investigate genetic diversity and pinpoint genomic regions associated with selection signatures in this breed using whole-genome sequence data. Variant calling yielded a total of 21,722,393 high-quality variants, including 19,495,163 SNPs and 2,227,230 indels. Most variants were located in introns and intergenic regions, while only 1.94% were exonic. Estimates of genetic diversity were moderate, with expected and observed heterozygosity and nucleotide diversity of 0.2325, 0.2402, and 0.0021, respectively. We identified nine adaptive candidate genes (SCAPER, FHAD1, MMP15, ADGRE1, CMKLR1, MRPL15, ZNF667, CCDC66, and LOC100055310), harboring high-impact exonic variants in the homozygote state for an alternative allele. No deleterious segregating variants associated with Mendelian traits were found in this population, while seven variants linked to coat color and gaitedness were detected in a low frequency heterozygous state. Our findings suggest that there are certain genomic regions subjected to ancient selection footprints during the ancestor breed formation and adaptation. The outcome of this study serves as a foundation for future genomic-driven strategies, a broader utilization of this breed, and a reference for genomic studies on other horse breeds. Full article

Understanding the genetic diversity and structure of domesticated horse (Equus caballus) populations is critical for long-term herd management and breeding programs. This study examines 435 horses from Kazakhstan, covering seven groups in three geographic areas using 11 STR markers. Identified are 136 alleles, with the mean number of alleles per locus ranging from 9 to 19. VHL20 is the most variable locus across groups, while loci HTG4, AHT4, AHT5, HTG7, and HMS3 are variable in most populations. The locus AHT5 in the Emba population shows the highest frequency of rare alleles, while the lowest frequency, 0.005, is observed in the Kulandy population. All loci were highly informative for the Kazakhstani populations of E. caballus, with PIC values higher than 0.5. Pairwise variations in Wright’s F_ST distances show that the examined varieties have little genetic differentiation (0.05%), indicating a high degree of admixture and a continuing lineage sorting process. Phylogenetic and population structure analyses reveal three major clusters of Kazakh horses, representing (I) the Uralsk population of the Kushum breed and the monophyly of two groups: (II) the Kozhamberdy population of the Mugalzhar breed, and (III) the Mugalzhar–Kushum breed populations. Kazakhstani horse populations, while being regionally isolated, were recently in contact with each other. Full article