Based on the Decision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia dated December 29, 2003, the Institute for Animal Husbandry is an authorized organization for the selection and livestock recording in the Republic of Serbia.
Based on the decision of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia No. 023-02-2354/2019-08 of November 8, 2019, the Institute of Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun, is the HEAD ORGANIZATION FOR SELECTION AND RECORDING in cattle, sheep, goat, pig and poultry breeding/production.
The basic activities of the Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade Zemun, as the Head selection and animal recording organization in livestock production, are defined by the Law on Animal Husbandry, the regulations generated on the basis of said law and the Main Breeding Program.
The Head selection/breeding and animal recording organization creates and implements the Main Breeding Program, which was adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture, forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia. In the implementation of the main breeding program, the Head selection/breeding organization in particular:
1) keeps the main registry/records by species, i.e. breeds of domestic animals on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, outside the territory of AP Vojvodina;
2) issues pedigrees and certificates of origin and other zootechnical documents and keeps records of them;
3) evaluates breeding value and ranks domestic animals;
4) gives consent for the use and distribution of seeds for artificial insemination of high quality breeding animals;
5) keeps records of breeding organizations and organizations with special authorities which implement the main breeding program;
6) keeps records of breeders of high quality breeding domestic animals;
7) proposes the acknowledgment of newly created breeds, lines and hybrids of domestic animals;
8) prepares professional instructions for the implementation of the Main Breeding Program;
9) controls the work on the implementation of the breeding program of local breeding organizations and regional breeding organizations and organizations with special authorities which implement the Main Breeding Program.
The Institute was founded by the state in 1948 precisely for the purpose of improving animal science and livestock production, both through scientific research and the application of that knowledge in practice.
The Institute for Animal Husbandry has experimental farms, the necessary equipment for animal identification and registration and productivity control, as well as a laboratory with specific equipment for testing of the quality of meat, milk, eggs and wool.
It is indisputable that the Institute for Animal Husbandry, as the unique institution in the country in the field of animal science, has more human resources for the implementation of breeding programs than required by the law.
Selection is a factor without which adequate results cannot be achieved in terms of improving the genetic base and improving the productivity of livestock production in general. It is a slow and long-term job, but also the only sure way to improve the quality of our livestock production, which requires permanent work.
Special attention in the selection is paid to ensure a unique scientific principle of evaluating animals based on objective measurements of their productivity. In many countries, with the development of computer technology, practical user software has been developed for a more efficient implementation of the selection procedure. Genetic information systems were also introduced for processing and evaluation of breeding value using linear methods or through selection indices, combining traits of economic importance.
The Institute for Animal Husbandry follows modern trends and the latest scientific achievements in animal science in developed countries and tries to apply the same in the animal science and livestock production in our country.
What is even more important in each of the fields of animal science, the Institute has staff who deal exclusively with genetics and breeding of animals and the application of the latest methods, including linear models for evaluating the breeding value of animals (LSM, BLUP, AM), which is also a condition for the control and defininf of existing breeding and selection work in Serbia.
The Institute cooperates with a large number of institutions in the field of animal science around the world and is able to transfer many experiences to our country, and also has a large number of its own technologies that are adapted to the conditions of our practice.