Body measurement and some conformation data recorded in the national breeding mare performance test of the Hungarian Association of Gidran Horse Breeders were processed. The initial database contained the data of the entire Hungarian active (living) breeding mare stock (N = 293), which were born between 1994-2016 and were offspring of 44 breeding stallions. During the study, eight traits-height at withers measured with stick and tape (HWS, HWT), chest girth (CHG), cannon circumference (left fore/front) (CAC), pedigree score (PES), conformation score (COS), movement score (MOS), total score (TOS)-were evaluated. One-and multi-trait analysis of variance (GLM) and weighted linear regression analysis were used to process the data. The corrected mean values (± SE) of the examined traits were as follows: HWS 161.6 ± 0.4 cm, HWT 169.6 ± 0.5 cm, CHG 188.4 ± 0.7 cm, CAC 19.9 ± 0.1 cm, PES 29.1 ± 0.3 points, COS 72.8 ± 0.5 points, MOS 40.5 ± 0.4 points, TOS 142.4 ± 0.7 points. The heritability of HWS, HWT, COS and TOS was moderate and high (0.37-0.47), CHG and CAC proved to be moderate (0.29-0.31), while low h² values were estimated for MOS (0.20). In the case of body measurements, moderate, decreasing trends (b =-0.25,-0.33,-0.35 and-0.08 cm/year, respectively; P < 0.01), for the other traits while stagnant (NS) phenotypic trends were observed. It can be concluded that the average body measurements as well as the results of the other examined traits for the Gidran breeding mares did not change essentially over time.

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate basic information on genetic structure and characteristics of Limousin population in Hungary. Obtained results will be taken into consideration when adopting the new breeding strategy by the Association of Hungarian Limousin and Blonde d'Aquitaine Breeders (AHLBB). Methods: Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship of 3,443 Limousin cattle from 16 different herds were investigated by performing genotyping using 18 microsatellite markers. Amplified DNA was genotyped using an automated genetic analyzer. Results: Mean of effective alleles (ne) of the populations was 3.77. Population C had the lowest number of effective alleles (3.01) and the lowest inbreeding coefficient (FIS) value (-0.15). Principal component analysis of estimated genetic distance (FST) values (p<0.000) revealed two herds (C and E) distinct from the majority of other Limousin herds. The pairwise FST values of population C compared to the others (0.066 to 0.120) fell into the range of moderate genetic distance: 0.050 to 0.150, while population E displayed also moderate genetic distance (FST values in range 0.052 to 0.064) but only to six populations (G, H, J, L, N, and P). FST(C-E) was 0.148, all other pairs -excluding C and E herds- displayed low genetic distance (FST<0.049). Population D, F, I, J, K, L, N, O, and P carried private alleles, which alleles belonged to 1.1% of the individuals. Most probable number of clusters (K) were 2 and 7 determined by Structure and BAPS software. Conclusion: This study showed useful genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship data that can be utilized for the development of a new breeding strategy by AHLBB. The results presented could also contribute to the proper selection of animals for further whole genome scan studies of Limousins.