PHYSIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF AUTOCHTHONOUS SMALL RUMINANTS BREEDS OF ITALY

The loss of biodiversity is a worldwide issue. Many local livestock breeds are threatened by the risk of extinction, mainly due to the progressive abandonment of some of these breeds in favor of few transboundary high-performance ones. Maintaining and protecting the autochthonous breeds is pivotal to guarantee food and agriculture sustainable development and food security in the future. In Italy, the husbandry of local goat breeds plays a multifunctional role, and expanding the knowledge of these native breeds is fundamental to allow the development of a correct strategy of conservation and improvement. Our project has focused on the study of physiological productive, reproductive, immunological, and metabolic aspects of four local goat breeds of Northern Italy (Frisa Valtellinese, Orobica, Lariana, and Verzaschese goats), on which the information is still very limited. Moreover, we have compared the results obtained from these breeds with those from the Camosciata delle Alpi, a transboundary dairy goat breed spread all over the world. Our results have shown the peculiarities and variabilities of the milk production of local breeds, despite their yields being lower than the cosmopolitan breed. We also investigated the polymorphism of a gene strictly related to the reproductive seasonality, showing the existence of no differences among local and cosmopolitan breeds belonging to the same macrogroup of breeds. However, when investigating different metabolic and immunological aspects, we demonstrated the greater variability among breeds and the greater rusticity of local ones. Specifically, a better quality of colostrum was found in local breeds when compared to a cosmopolitan breed, considering also the typical farming system of each of them. Moreover, evaluating the hematological parameters in different goat breeds under identical farming conditions, our study revealed a greater adaptability of local breeds to environmental stressors. Finally, this study evaluated the stress reaction to the environment during the vertical transhumance in a local breed, together with the possibility to use autochthonous breeds as biomonitoring tools, specifically for heavy metals and trace elements. In conclusion, this project has demonstrated, with a multidisciplinary approach, the great variability of physiological adaptations existing between different breeds, and the greater rusticity and hardness enjoyed by local breeds compared to transboundary breeds.