On the origin of the Slovenian Cika cattle

SummaryIn 2002, it was discovered that several Cika cattle in the mountain areasof Slovenia had escaped the official policy of cross-breeding. Here, wereport a genetic characterization to assess their status as autochthonousbreed. We compared genotypes for 14 microsatellite markers in 150 Cikacattle individuals with data from 16 Central European cattle breeds. Weshow that Cika cattle are genetically as diverse as other Eastern Alpinebreeds, are more diverse than Austrian Simmental but less than the Bal-kan Busha cattle. STRUCTURE analysis showed Pinzgauer admixture inseveral individuals but also indicated a unique genetic identity for Cika.This analysis also allowed a selection of the most genetically pure Cikaindividuals as assessed by the panel of microsatellites. These original Cikacattle form an Eastern Alpine breed cluster together with Pinzgauer andPustertaler cattle. Cika cattle should be considered as an authentic andvaluable genetic resource, which offers clear opportunities for sustainableagriculture and landscape conservation in marginal and mountain areas.IntroductionSlovenia is with other Balkan countries locatedbetween the Southwest Asian domestication centresand Northwest Europe, where the most productivecattle breeds have been developed. During the agricul-tural colonization of Europe repetitive founder effectsdecreased livestock genetic diversity with increasingdistance from the domestication centre (Cymbronet al. 2005; Ajmone-Marsan et al. 2010). Approxi-mately two hundred years ago, homogeneous andgeneticallyisolatedbreedsemergedwithmoresystem-atic selection and the standardization of morphologyandperformance(Felius1995;Medugoracet al.2009).Slovenian cattle were described for the first time in1872 (Schollmayr 1873) as widespread but unnamed,yellow, red, red-brown or brown-black cattle fromthe Alpine part of the Austro-Hungarian provinceCarniola (present north-west Slovenia). These cattlewere small due to very poor feeding and rearingconditions. In 1878, the brown-red Bohinj cattle inthe north-west Slovenian Bohinj valley (Figure 1)had an elegant body frame, light bones, and a rela-tively high milk production of 1.200 to 1.500 l/yearconsidered a body weight of only 225–280 kg andpoor rearing conditions (Hitz 1878). These cattle werekept pure, but were from 1869 also cross-bred withCarinthian M€olltaler sires. The M €olltaler was devel-oped from light-red-pied cattle cross-bred to Pustertal-er and Tyrolean Pinzgauer (Felius 1995) and becamein 1925 absorbed by the popular Pinzgauer. It had arelatively light body frame (300-400 kg if kept in themountains), a dark-red coat colour and a high milkproduction (Felius 1995; Sambraus 1999). In 1894,Tolmin and Bovec cattle from the Soca valley weredescribed as a lighter type of M€olltaler cattle with ahigh milk production (Povse 1894). There wasintensive trading in cattle between different Austro-Hungarian provinces. Bohinj cows were appreciatedas milk cows in the Carinthia and Salzburg provincesin Austria (Zan Lotri c 2012), and Bovec cows weresold in the M€oll valley.