INFLUENCE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF LINEAR CONFORMATION TRAITS CHARACTERIZING THE BODY STATE, ON THE VIABILITY OF COWS UKRAINIAN BROWN DAIRY BREED

In the aspect of the search for predictors of longevity of dairy cattle animals, the dependence of longevity of Ukrainian brown dairy cows on indicators of descriptive conformation type traits has been investigated. We studied the linear type traits of the exterior of first-calf cows in the leading farms of the Sumy region, characterizing the state of the body development. According to the results of this research was determined, a reliable dependence of the cows longevity on the level of assessment of the descriptive conformation type traits: chest width, body depth, angularity, rump angle and width, and body condition score. The correlative variability of the relationship between cow’s longevity and these features was depending on the level of assessment of specific type trait of body structure of the animal. Dependence of the cows longevity on the development of chest width was different by curvilinear variability. The longer life of cows was found in animals with an estimate for the development of this type trait at 4–6 scores that averaged 2.726–2.895 days with the best 5 scores. When comparing the group of animals with an average 5 scores with the groups having 6–9 scores, a significant difference was found in favor of the first, ranging from 169 (P