The crossing of European (Bos taurus) and Zebu (Bos indicus) cattle is considered asone of the assay aimed at improving economically important traits and maintaining biodiversity in farm animal populations. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the genetic structure of an experimental population of crossbred cattle to develop the breeding program aimed at improving economically important traits while preserving Zebu-specific genomic components. The studied sample was represented by animals of experimental farm "Snegiri" of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which were genotyped by approx. 50 thousands SNP using the Bovine SNP BeadChip (Zebucow, n=221). In the dataset used for the analysis was completed by genotypes of 494 samples from 27 groups of cattle, including 21 groups of Zebu of different origin, 4 groups of crossbred cattle, as well as 2 groups of European (Holstein and Black-and-White) cattle, as comparison groups. The shared genetic origin of the studied experimental population of crossbred cattle with the gene pool population of Black-and-White cattle has been shown at formation of its own genetic structure, which differs it from both Black-and-White and Holstein cattle. The presence of Zebu-specific genomic components in the studied sample, which should become a priority object for conservation, is shown. The preservation of authentic components of Black-and-White cattle in the experimental population allows considering it as a significant national genetic resource that requires further conservation as a reserve of variability. The results of the conducted research can be used in the development of balanced breeding programs based on the involvement in further reproduction of animals carrying genomic components, both Blackand-White and Zebu cattle, and aimed at increasing their breeding value for main economically important traits.

The review is devoted to the state of dairy sheep breeding in Russia and abroad. The introduction notes the concern that the sheep may eventually become a "green" animal, due to the high ploughing and narrowing of land for pasture. Therefore, new technologies are needed to protect one of the first domesticated animal species. Its prudentuse in human economic activity. One of the ways out of this situation is the development of dairy sheep farming.
Materials and methodology. The research was based on data collected from a number of Russian sources, as well as 6 international publishing platforms (E-Library, Wiley, Elsevier, ResearchGate, NCBI, FAO). A total of 253 sources on a given topic were analyzed. Of these, 81 works from Russian and foreign publications were selected for the article. Since in the analysis of milk productivity, measurements in some sources were given in kg, and in others in liters, the available figures were adjusted by a factor of 0.97(1 kg=0.97l).
Results. The section is structured and presents materials on historical aspects, the current state of milk research, and its features. It is shown that statistics on the amount of milk produced are kept in 78 countries of the world. Of these, 10 countries have received more milk for processing. An in-depthanalysis of the quantity andquality of milk in a comparative aspect is given, the origin of the word «brynza» is described. In the world, about 1,000 varieties of cheese are made from milk. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of 12 known dairy sheep breeds. It is noted that each of them has gone through its own evolutionary and breeding path of formation. Morphogenetic features are given, which should be paid attention to when breeding unique animals. There are few statistics on the emerging industry in Russia, and there is a lot of organizational work to be done at the state and economic levels to train personnel, effectively use imported breeds to create their own populations, feed stocks, and adapted technologies. With the exception of the Avassi and Assaf breeds, all the others are bred in Europe. There is a bio-reservefor attracting new breeds for the production of sheep's milk. These include the Icelandic, Finnish Landrace, and Romanov sheep breeds. Due to their multiple births, these sheep can produce more milk than representatives of other breeds.

The silkworm (Bombyx mori) serves not only as the foundation of traditional sericulture but also as a unique model for genomic research among lepidopterans. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of genomic studies of B. mori, covering the period from the initial work with molecular markers to the creation of a complete telomere-to-telomere genome assembly in 2024. Particular attention is paid to the development of genetic analysis methods: from early approaches (RAPD, RFLP, AFLP) to modern highly polymorphic microsatellite markers and whole-genome sequencing. The successes in identifying genes controlling key economically valuable traits are analyzed in detail, including genes for productivity (BmAbl1, BmVps13d), silk gland development (BmSGF1, BmPriS), metamorphosis (BmShadow, BR-C), cocoon coloration (Bm-re, Gn-Str cluster), and reproduction (BmSer1, BmNap). A significant achievement has been the creation of integrative databases and gene expression atlases, providing a foundation for the systems biology of the silkworm. Current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of domestication and breeding improvement is summarized, including the identified candidate genes for selective selection associated with the nervous system and metabolism. Significant progress in studying the genetic basis of adaptation, including the mechanisms of diapause and stress resistance, is noted. The obtained data are of fundamental importance for understanding insect evolution and have practical applications in breeding programs. Special emphasis is placed on promising research directions, including functional genomics, the study of regulatory systems, and the creation of reference transcriptomes. The work demonstrates how genomic advances are transforming traditional breeding, paving the way for the targeted development of silkworm breeds with desired traits.

Milk is an important source of nutrients for humans. Changes in the component composition of milk reflect the metabolic status and health status of cows. Specific milk parameters can be used as biomarkers reflecting cows' energy status, metabolic processes, health status and nutritional value of the diet. Biomarkers can serve as a simple tool in assessing herd management responsible for the formation and subsequent implementation of cow productivity. The introduction of additional parameters for assessing the quantitative and qualitative composition of cows’ milk should have a positive impact on the realization of the genetic value of the animal, extending the period of productive use and the quality of the resulting product.
Milk productivity and the quality composition of milk depend on many factors. The use of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy for the development of management and selection tools for dairy farms provides great opportunities as a simpler and more reliable method that allows monitoring of the herd during control milkings, taking into account the collection of individual data for each cow.
The presented article discusses the functional parameters of cow milk biomarkers, the possibilities of their practical implementation, scientific significance and prospects for inclusion in scientific research.

Knowledge of ruminal enzymatic processes is a biotechnological tool that can short-term understand the physiological aspects of ruminants related to current issues such as the search for new feed sources, as well as the minimization of greenhouse gas emissions generated by fermentation. The type of fermentation in the rumen determines the state of the process where hydrogen (H2) either becomes available for anaerobic fermentation and is incorporated into components used by the animal, or is lost as methane (CH4). Although in vivo methods are the gold standard for determining ruminal gas production, they are unable to explain the kinetics of enzymatic gas production, including methane. The aim of this article is to outline the main enzymatic processes in the rumen of ruminants and modern in vitro systems for their registration. This review provides a brief description of ruminal enzymatic processes and simultaneously examines advanced, fully automated devices for in vitro gas determination in real-time, which is a technologically valuable tool for assessing feed quality and evaluating gaseous emissions, including methane, in ruminant nutrition studies, and a brief characterization of modern in vitro enzymatic systems, both foreign and domestic developments. As public interest in animal welfare grows, scientific research increasingly focuses on developing less invasive methods, such as in vitro methods, for accurately measuring methane production by ruminants.