132 Utilisation and conservation of farm animal genetic resources
Jörn Bennewitz, Herwin Eding, John Ruane and Henner Simianer
even extinct Scherf et al., 2006. Additionally, from around 35 of the breeds the
classiication status is unknown, but it can reasonably be assumed that a fair proportion of these breeds is also endangered. he breed extinction process is diferent for the
species chapter 1 but no farm animal species is endangered as such. On the other hand, the inancial funds available either private or public for conservation of farm
animal biodiversity are limited, preventing conservation of all endangered breeds. Indeed, it is not possible and also may not be desirable to conserve all endangered
breeds. Many breeds are members of breed groups and can be replaced by other breeds without losing biodiversity. Other highly endangered breeds with a few animals let
may be genetically impoverished so that eforts to maintain them may not represent a cost-eicient contribution to biodiversity Ruane, 2000.
he choice of breeds that should be included in a well designed and eicient conservation plan is of fundamental importance. In the following several strategies for the selection
of breeds for conservation are reviewed and discussed with respect to the objectives of the conservation plan.
2. What are the objectives of a conservation effort?
he arguments for the conservation of farm animal biodiversity are outlined in detail in chapter 2 and can be classiied either into insurance arguments or into sustainable
utilisation of rural area arguments. he insurance arguments imply conservation of suicient genetic diversity in order to be able to cope with putative future changes in
the production or market environment. his includes conserving breeds which show some special traits that are of interest examples in Box 6.1. Here it seems that at least
one breed should be conserved that shows this special trait. Additionally, breeds which contribute to the genetic diversity of the species should be conserved. he insurance
argument focuses on the maintenance of diversity within species.
he speciic adaptation of a breed to its, sometimes very harsh, production environment falls into the sustainable utilisation argument. his speciic adaptation is a consequence
of natural and artiicial selection and mating of animals according to a breeding goal either well deined or somewhat intuitive in order to form a breed that copes with
the particular challenge of the environment examples in Box 6.1. Other breeds show a long history, parallel with the cultural development of human populations. Hence,
in the same way as other cultural assets like old buildings or artwork, some breeds can be considered as cultural and historical merits and should therefore be conserved. he
sustainable utilisation argument favours the
in situ conservation of speciic breeds in their present state.
Utilisation and conservation of farm animal genetic resources 133
Chapter 6. Selection of breeds for conservation
Box 6.1. Examples of well adapted breeds and of breeds with unique traits. he Kuri cattle’s adaptation to the aquatic environment around the island and shores of the
Lake Chad Basin is one of the clearest examples of adaptation to a speciic environment Tawah
et al., 1997. he feral Soay sheep is adapted to the very tough conditions of the St. Kilda archipelago, of
the coast of Scotland, and is thought to have existed there since the Neolithic times Hall and Bradley, 1995.
he Meishan pig breed from China is extremely fertile and has thus been imported to Europe and North America for use in commercial stocks, as well as for study in a wide range of
research projects to understand the genetic basis of fertility, and indeed, of other traits e.g. Janss
et al., 1997. Study of the unique musculature of the Belgian Blue cattle breed has led to an increased
understanding of the genetic mechanism behind muscular development in mammals Grobet et al., 1997.
he North Ronaldsay sheep breed is unique in that it feeds only on seaweed for large parts of the year and, in addition, has very eicient copper absorption and high salt tolerance
Ponzoni, 1997. he rare Gulf Coast native sheep has high natural resistance to internal parasites, a characteristic
which led to locks of the breed being established at the Universities of Florida and Louisiana for research purpose Henson, 1990.
Many other breeds have documented resistance to speciic diseases, such as the N’dama cattle which survive in areas infested by the tsetse ly, due to their high resistance to trypanosomiasis
the cattle equivalent to sleeping sickness, transmitted by the ly, and have been at the centre of a large research programme FAO, 1992.
Examples of well adapted breeds and of breeds with unique traits reported to FAO in the individual country reports within the State of the World’s process, SOW chapter 1:
Within the Icelandic Sheep population a line with leadership characteristics exists. It is an unusual ability to ind their way and they heave greater intelligence than other sheep lines.
Crossbreeding with the Leader-line shows a clear heritability for this trait Icelandic Ministry of Agriculture, 2003.
In Zambia the Angoni, Barotse, Baila and Tonga cattle breeds are adapted to the local tropical conditions and are heat, parasite and disease tolerant Farm Animal Genetic Regional Focal
Point of Zambia, 2003. In the Republic of Kazakhstan the Kazakh ine-lees sheep breed is famous for the wool
quality and quantity Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2003. In the Republic of Korea the Yeonsan Ogol chicken breed is totally black including the the
muscle, the bone and the intestinal organs. It has been raised for several hundreds of years and is used for medicinal purpose Republic of Korea, 2004.
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134 Utilisation and conservation of farm animal genetic resources
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he precise deinition of the objectives for conservation is crucial for the selection of breeds to be included in the conservation plan. If the objective of the conservation
efort is only to maintain as much neutral genetic diversity as possible, then only those breeds which contribute most to it should be selected and
ex situ conservation might be suicient. If, however, the objective includes also additional objectives for sustainable
use in rural areas, then also those breeds that fulil the additional criteria are relevant for the conservation plan including
in situ conservation chapter 2.
3. Which species are relevant?
he diferent domesticated species carry out a multitude of purposes, providing humans with food meat, milk, and eggs, ibre, leather, transport and, as by-products, fertiliser
and fuel. Some species are more important than others, e.g. almost all the world’s milk comes from cattle and bufaloes and the world’s meat from pigs, chicken and cattle.
here are also domesticated species that are important in the developed world as companion animals like cats and dogs.
For the selection of breeds across species, two equal-strategies based on some form of uniform allocation may be considered. he irst assigns a speciic amount of inancial
resources to each species. his would result in a larger number of conservation programmes for smaller less-costly species like poultry or rabbits. he second considers
an equal number of breeds per species. Here the majority resources would be spent for larger more-costly species like cattle or horses. hese equal approaches are not convincing,
because they do not take the relative importance of the species into account.
he prioritisation of species should be done in accordance with the respective objective of the conservation plan. If the plan includes also the conservation of companion
animals, perhaps because of cultural arguments, then their conservation should also receive support and breeds from these species have to be selected. If the focus is only
on species with agricultural relevance, then companion animals should be excluded. In this case those species with many endangered breeds that are important for agricultural
production should receive most support.
4. Is the risk-strategy efficient for the selection of breeds?
At the moment, the oten applied rules by the stakeholders for selection of breeds for conservation mostly rely on a single or a combination of a few simple criteria, which are
related to the risk status of a breed. Risk status is deduced from the number of breeding males and females, the inbreeding rate estimated from the efective population size,
chapter 3 or population dynamics like increasing or decreasing population size.
