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Investigations on Merging Breeds in Genetic Conservation Schemes

J. Bennewitz^*,,1, H. Simianer and T. H. E. Meuwissen^*

^* Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Box 1432, Ås, Norway
Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, 24098 Kiel, Germany
Institute of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Georg-August-University Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany

¹ Corresponding author: jorn.bennewitz{at}umb.no

Genetic diversity within livestock species is threatened by extinction of breeds and by genetic drift; the need to conserve genetic diversity by conservation schemes is widely accepted. To maintain the between-breed diversity, breeds are usually kept separately in live conservation schemes. However, in some cases it might be very difficult or even impossible to conserve a highly endangered breed in a closed population. If this breed is important for diversity, it might be beneficial to merge it with one or more breeds to conserve a part of the diversity that is contributed by this breed. The present study introduces a general framework that may enable one to decide when it is beneficial to form a synthetic breed that includes highly endangered breeds to maximize conserved diversity and when to keep the breeds separate. Expected future diversities were estimated using a kinship-based diversity measure together with extinction probabilities of the breeds. Using a small hypothetical data set, the pattern of diversity and its 2 components, within-breed and between-breed diversity, were analyzed in detail when forming a synthetic breed. The suggested approach was applied to a data set of 13 central European red and yellow cattle breeds. The results suggested forming a synthetic breed by combining a nonendangered breed with 1 of the 2 highly endangered breeds, which would result in a slight increase in conserved diversity.

Key Words: genetic diversity • conservation scheme • diversity measure • synthetic breed