Analysis of Czech Rabbit Genetic Resources

The aim of the study was to describe an effective population size, fertility and growth characteristics of Czech rabbit breeds included in the Program of Rabbit Genetic Resources. In the study, seven Czech original breeds were included, giant breed Moravian Blue (MB), medium breeds Czech White (CW), Czech Spotted (CS), Czech Solver (CSo), Moravian White of Brown Eye (MW) and small breeds Czech Black Guard Hair (CB) and Czech Gold (CG). The effective population size of MB, CW, CS ad CG shows that breeds are not at risk and even though that CSo, MW and CB are endangered, their population grows. The significantly biggest litter size (P ≤ 0.001) was in CW (6.83) and CS (6.74). CW had the significantly highest litter size (P ≤ 0.001) at weaning (6.46) but CS one of the lowest (5.19). The result was connected with the highest mortality (P ≤ 0.001) till weaning (21.18%) in this breed. Growth of rabbits was highly significantly (P ≤ 0.001) affected by genotype during the whole experiment and the highest live weight at 91 days was in MB (2948 g) and the lowest in CB (1891 g)