Effects of using indigenous heritage sheep breeds in organic and low-input production systems on production efficiency and animal welfare in Romania.

Romania ranks third in the EU28 in terms of sheep numbers (9.8 millions), having a self-sufficiency for sheep meat of 150 % and therefore exports are important at national level. Objectives of the current research trials were: i) to evaluate the potential of the Turcana breed to produce organic lamb meat under highland pasture-based conditions; ii) to evaluate the overall resistance of the breed and fitness indicators, in comparison with two native breeds, reared under lowinput conditions; iii) to study the genetic base using molecular assisted selection in order to produce hypoallergenic milk and derived milk products. The conventional pasture from the current project had a potential of production of 189 kg/ha for Turcana purebreds, and of 236 kg/ha for F1German Blackheaded x Turcana (GBxTA) crossbreed lambs. While for the organic pasture, it was estimated a production potential of 191 kg of meat per hectar while rearing Turcana purebred lambs, and of 240 kg/ha for the F1GBxTA dualbreeds. In the current preliminary study, the genetic polymorphism of ovine β-casein gene in the Romanian Zackel breed was highlighted, using TaqMan assay. β-casein in sheep is strongly correlated to economically important milk quantitative traits, being a first step in introducing genomic selection for the production of organic hypoallergenic sheep milk and derived products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]