Dominant CZ

The office of Dominant CZ within the hatchery and office of Lihen Studenec Ltd near Studenec

The history of Dominant CZ is quite short in relation to many other companies with a similar company product trading objectives. However, three things stand out as significant that sets Dominant CZ apart from any other. Firstly, the proximity of the business to the origin of the founder of modern genetics, Gregor Mendel, whose monastery was in the city of Brno; and the name of the company is derived from one of the principles of gene action. Secondly, poultry breeding programs began in 1928 when a breeding centre for laying hens was set up thus starting a long established breeding tradition. The centre was in a breeding station for plants and livestock in the towns of Chlumec and Cidlinou in Eastern Bohemia. Rhode Island Red and White Leghorn lines were imported from England and Holland. After the second World War the breeding station moved 10 km to Dobrenice where it was in operation until 1998. Thirdly, the organization of breeding was eventually shrunk into two parts, one was to manage the breeding of imported lines from Europe and North America and the other was to maintain but not utilize, lines developed and added to since 1928. These lines were an insurance against the possible cessation of importation of updated parent or grandparent lines from Europe and North America. In the process of sweeping privatizations that occurred throughout the country following the collapse of the socialist planned economic system a company Dominant Ltd was formed by Dr Milan Tyller at the long established breeding station in Dobrenice.

 The long established lines had been under threat of destruction and were saved. Dr Tyller had gained permission to set up Dominant Ltd and continued the improvement of lines and the development of products. Unfortunately the financial structure of this company was not sustained. The collection of lines again was headed for the slaughterhouse in 1998. Dr Tyller was able to secure significant numbers of both sexes of each line in the collection at Dominant Ltd and house them in farms owned by the business Lihen Studenec Ltd that was owned by Mr Ing. Josef Dobrovolny and his son Pavel Dobrovolny. The company Dominant CZ was set up within Lihen Studenec with Dr Milan Tyller as the geneticist and manager of the research and development and export of stock. Dominant CZ produces five parents lines which when mated in different combinations produce eight separate commercial layers. Two of these are colour sexed by the silver and gold genes, three are colour sexed by the barring gene and three are feather sexed by the slow and fast feathering genes. All of which use the dominant-recessive principles of gene action discovered by Mendel. One of the selection objectives of Dominant CZ is very, very modern. The objective is one of adaptability to environmental stress of the type that is frequently encountered in many countries where the husbandry and feeds are sub-standard.