MORPHOMETRIC MEASURES OF THE GATACKO CATTLE ON THE TERRITORY OF GACKO MUNICIPALITY.

Gatacko cattle, as one of the indigenous breeds of the Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely its entity of Republic of Srpska, deserve special attention when it comes to detailed description of the breed, inventory and genotyping. This kind of research is apsolutely neccesary in order to establish programs for in citu preservation of genetic resources. As the name of the breed suggests, Gacko municipality is the most relevant for this breed in terms of breeding and the total number of cattle, and was therefore selected for our research. The aim of this paper was to determine morphometric parameters of the Gatacko cattle by conducting appropriate measurements. The study involved 288 cows, and the total of 15 parameters were measured on each cow. The analysis of obtained data was performed using methods of desciptive statistical analysis. Also, the phenotypic correlation between the morphometric parameters was calculated. The results indicates higher values of all morphometric parameters, except for the shin girth. The contribution of this research is reflected in a large number of samples on which morphometric characterization were performed and correlations determined, which provide material for further research towards genotyping of this indigenous breed and establishing the breeding goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]