Impacts of Artificial Insemination on Holstein Cattle Population in Turkey

Abstract

Abstract The use of artificial insemination (AI) is common practice in most countries all around the world, in dairy cattle. AI, which started to be implemented in Turkey in 1930, became more widespread in 1987 in order to rapidly improve the native breed. According to data from 2020, 37% of the cattle population is a crossbred and about 15% of this is Holstein cattle. In the last 5 years, approximately 26.5 million doses of sperm have been imported, in other words, an average of 0.70 doses per milked cow. In this study, the pedigree file records of 5 673 405 Holsteins born from 1975 to 2012, and all sires were known individually were selected for this study. It was determined that 5 673 405 individuals had a total of 11 883 sires. The 10 most used sires are parents of 10.61% of progeny in the population. For today, almost 37% of the cattle population is converted to exotic breeds and their crossbreeds. Approximately 15% of this is Holstein. In the last 5 years, approximately 26.5 million doses of semen have been imported, in other words, an average of 0.70 doses of semen per milked cow. Although frequent use of some sires leads to increased inbreeding in some herds, the consanguinity coefficient in the population was found to be 0.0145. Apart from various problems in insemination practices in Turkey, it can be suggested that an effective way is followed in semen selection and importation.