The Carniolan honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica) is an indigenous subspecies of the Western honey bee in Central Europe. Croatia represents a large part of its native range. Hybridization and introgression is a realistic possibility due to unmonitored imports by beekeepers. In this study, we focused on honey bee colonies managed by beekeepers from all over Croatia and Slovenia. The identification of the subspecies was based on wing geometric morphometrics. The similarity of all investigated colonies to A. m. carnica was substantial, which indicates that the native subspecies continues to be present in the study area. However, some of the colonies differed markedly from the currently available reference of this subspecies. The low similarity with reference samples can be related both to hybridization with non-native subspecies and to natural geographical variation within A. m. carnica. The data and results obtained from this morphometric analysis will provide a deeper insight into the phenotypic characterization of the studied honey bee populations and directions for future conservation strategies.

The aim of this paper was to highlight the most recent findings from research that utilized infrared thermography in diagnosing hoof disease and lameness in dairy cows. Scientific references were selected from databases based on their application of infrared thermography in detecting and preventing diseases in cattle. Studies have established that measuring view, leg position, and the presence of disease or different levels of lameness significantly affect the temperature values of cow’s feet. Additionally, the timing of measurements is also important, while factors such as lactation stage, animal activity, and ambient temperature substantially impact the infrared readings. The potential of using infrared thermography has been recognized. However, further research is needed to develop optimal combinations of different diagnostic methods to improve the accuracy and efficiency of detecting hoof disease and lameness.

Croatia’s accession to the European Union in 2013, followed by the abolition of the EU milk quota regime in 2015, exposed a structurally vulnerable dairy and beef sector to the dual pressure of single-market price convergence and post-quota production reallocation. While prior partial equilibrium modelling work on Croatian agriculture has assessed broad accession impacts and CAP reform scenario comparisons, no study has yet quantified the post-quota structural transition trajectory of the Croatian dairy and beef sectors with mechanism-level interpretation under the actually implemented CAP framework. This study simulates and analytically interprets the medium-term (to 2030) trajectories of the Croatian dairy and beef sectors using the AGMEMOD partial equilibrium framework, with an updated Croatian country-level model incorporating CAP 2023–2027 parameters, the post-quota dairy module specification, and historical data extending to 2024. Results indicate continued structural contraction: dairy cow numbers decline from 70.9 thousand head (2024) to 66.0 thousand head (2030); milk production falls 8.6% to 399.6 million litres; total cattle population declines by 4.0% and beef and veal meat production falls 11.0% to 33.1 thousand tonnes. Self-sufficiency rates deteriorate to 41% for milk and 51% for beef by 2030. The study contributes empirical evidence on small Member State post-quota adjustment dynamics, demonstrates that the current CAP 2023–2027 instruments are unlikely to reverse the contraction trajectory under baseline assumptions, and raises explicit food security implications for national agri-food policy.

Cilj istraživanja bio je da se primenom genomike i bioinformatičkog pristupa proceni genetska raznolikost i nivo inbridinga u populaciji cigaja ovaca gajenih u Republici Srbiji. Istraživanjem je obuhvaćeno 26 grla oba pola (26 ovaca i 2 ovna) i oba soja (somborska i čokanska cigaja). Biološki materijal za izolaciju DNK uzet je pomoću nazalnog brisa. Nakon izolacije DNK, urađena je genotipizacija uzoraka pomoću Ilumina platforme OvineSNP50 BeadChip V3. Posle genotipizacije urađena je standardna kontrola kvaliteta u programsku paketu PLINK v1.9 što je rezultiralo da se iz analize isključi je 8936 SNP, te je konačan set podataka obuhvatao genotipske informacije za 47236 SNP markera kod 26 jedinki. Za procenu nivoa inbridinga u populaciji korišćen je metod genomsko inbridinga (FROH) koji meri udeo autozomalnog genoma jedinke. Za detekciju ROH ostrva korišćen je paket detectRUNS koji se koristi za skeniranje genoma za homozigotne ili heterozigotne segmente koristeći metod uzastopnih SNP-ova. Analizom celokupnog genoma ovaca rase cigaja utvrđeno je postojanje čak 2115 ROH ostrva. Najveći broj ROH ostrva očekivano je utvrđen u klasi dužine 1-2 Mbp (870), dok je najmanji broj utvrđen u klasi većoj od 16 Mbp i iznosio je 59. Kada je reč o hromozomima najveći broj ROH ostrva pronađen je na hromozomu 1, čak 289 i njegova pokrivenost ROH ostrvima iznosila je 13,66%. Nešto nižu pokrivenost, ali dalje jako visoku imali su hromozomi 2 (241 ROH sa pokrivenošću od 11,39%) i 3 (228 ROH sa pokrivenošću 10,78%). Utvrđena vrednost indiviualnog FROH imala je svoje vrednosti od 0,012 do čak 0,321. Prosečna vrednost FROH iznosila je 0,14. Utvrđena bvrednost FROH ukazuje na umereno visok nivo genomskog inbridinga, što nosi ozbiljne implikacije za očuvanje genetske raznolikosti, zdravlja i održivost ove populacije.

The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of and differences in the temperature values for the cows’ hooves depending on the lameness score and health status. The research was conducted on a free-stall housing dairy farm with Holstein cows (n = 180). The maximum (IR MAX), average (IR MEAN) and minimum (IR MIN) infrared temperature values were recorded at the coronary band (CB). The four-point manual locomotion scoring system was used to assess four levels of lameness score (LS0–LS3). The average values of IR MEAN, IR MIN and IR MIN of unhealthy hooves were significantly higher than the mean values of healthy hooves. Under lower ambient recording conditions, significant differences in CB temperature were observed between cows with different lameness scores, while under higher ambient conditions these differences were not statistically significant. The IR MEAN values for cows with LS0 (16.28 °C) were significantly (p < 0.05) lower than those for cows with LS1 (17.59 °C), LS2 (17.71 °C) and high significantly (p < 0.01) lower compared to cows with LS3 (18.04 °C). The distribution of the coronary band temperatures indicates that hoof temperature is associated with the health status of the cow, ambient recording conditions, and the level of the lameness score.