Kazakhstan sees no point in reviving domestic crossbreeds

The Kazakhstan government has turned down lawmakers’ proposal to allocate money from the state budget to give a second chance to Soviet-era domestic crossbreeds. In November 2023, a group of members of the Kazakh Parliament filed a request to the government suggesting that the country should lower its dependence on foreign poultry genetics. The authors reminded that during the Soviet times the Kazakh poultry industry development institute worked on several domestic crossbreeds, including duck crossbreed Medeo, laying hens crossbreed Atalay, and broiler crossbreed Kaisar. In addition, the institute developed a hybrid of turkey and ducks, the lawmakers recalled. All progress of those studies has been lost as the institute was closed shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The institute’s building is still standing, all equipment has been preserved, and there are young scientists ready to devote themselves to the revival of poultry genetics hand-in-hand with experienced ...