Livestock Breeding, Institute of

(full name: All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Livestock Breeding; VIZh), an institute established near Leningrad in 1929 and moved to Moscow in 1930 and to the village of Dubrovitsy, near Podol’sk, Moscow Oblast, in 1961. In 1971 it had the following departments: technology of milk production, technology of beef production, technology of pork production, breeding and genetics of cattle and sheep, biology of reproduction and artificial insemination of farm animals, feeding of farm animals, and technology of feeds. It also had several laboratories, including the physiology of digestion, analytical chemistry, wool, mixed feeds, microbiology, endocrinology, biochemistry, immunogenetics, computer use, and radioisotopes and polymers.

The Institute of Livestock Breeding studies the technology of livestock raising; improvement of existing and creation of new breeds and purebred groups of dairy and beef cattle, swine, and meat-wool sheep; the genetic basis of breeding farm animals; the biological basis of reproduction and artificial insemination of farm animals and methods of increasing their fertility; and the scientific feeding of farm animals. The institute coordinates research and offers guidance on methods of research on livestock breeding in the USSR. Highly productive breeds of sheep (Kuybyshev and Altai), the Urzhum breed of swine, and the Alatau breed of cattle were developed under the guidance and with the participation of the institute’s staff. It has resident and correspondence-course graduate students. It publishes Trudy (since 1930), collections of research articles, descriptions of methods, and recommendations on a variety of problems in livestock breeding.