THE ROLE OF GENE BANKS TO CONSERVE INDIGENOUS BREEDS OF FARM ANIMALS

Očuvanje genetskih resursa predstavlja odgovornost svakog naroda, stoga su mnoge zemlje prepoznale potrebu unaprijeđenja praćenja, očuvanja i dokumetniranja životinjskih genetskih resursa. Animalna proizvodnja je od vitalnog značaja za čovječanstvo i očuvanje genetske raznolikosti u populacijama životinja čime im se osigurava budućnost. Nužno je da svaka zemlja razvije najbolju pojedinačnu strategiju ili politiku očuvanja farmskih životinjskih genetskih resursa prije dizajniranja nacionalnog krioprezervacijskog programa. Osnivanje i integracija banke gena u uzgojne programe i programe očuvanja izvornih i zaštićenih pasmina od značaja je za održivost ukupnih genetskih resursa u HrvatskojConservation of genetic resources is the responsibility of each nation, so many countries have recognized the need to improve the monitoring, conservation and documentation of animal genetic resources. Animal production is of vital importance for humanity and the preservation of genetic diversity in populations of animals providing them with the future. It is necessary for each country to develop the best single strategy or policy of conservation of farm animal genetic resources before designing national cryo-preservation program. The establishment of gene banks and the integration into breeding programs and conservation of native and endangered breeds is important for the sustainability of the overall genetic resources in Croatia

THE ROLE OF GENE BANKS TO CONSERVE INDIGENOUS BREEDS OF FARM ANIMALS

Očuvanje genetskih resursa predstavlja odgovornost svakog naroda, stoga su mnoge zemlje prepoznale potrebu unaprijeđenja praćenja, očuvanja i dokumetniranja životinjskih genetskih resursa. Animalna proizvodnja je od vitalnog značaja za čovječanstvo i očuvanje genetske raznolikosti u populacijama životinja čime im se osigurava budućnost. Nužno je da svaka zemlja razvije najbolju pojedinačnu strategiju ili politiku očuvanja farmskih životinjskih genetskih resursa prije dizajniranja nacionalnog krioprezervacijskog programa. Osnivanje i integracija banke gena u uzgojne programe i programe očuvanja izvornih i zaštićenih pasmina od značaja je za održivost ukupnih genetskih resursa u HrvatskojConservation of genetic resources is the responsibility of each nation, so many countries have recognized the need to improve the monitoring, conservation and documentation of animal genetic resources. Animal production is of vital importance for humanity and the preservation of genetic diversity in populations of animals providing them with the future. It is necessary for each country to develop the best single strategy or policy of conservation of farm animal genetic resources before designing national cryo-preservation program. The establishment of gene banks and the integration into breeding programs and conservation of native and endangered breeds is important for the sustainability of the overall genetic resources in Croatia

SEASONAL INFLUENCE ON LITTER SIZE TRAITS IN TWO LOCAL PIG BREEDS: BLACK SLAVONIAN AND NERO DI PARMA.

Black Slavonian (BS) and Nero di Parma (NP) pig breeds are an essential part of biological diversity of southern Europe as distinctive rustic exterior and black genotypes reared in semi-extensive systems. Environmental factors such as changes in ambient temperature and photoperiod have a significant role in the variability of reproductive performance of sows. Genetic characterization is a fundamental prerequisite in the strategies and management for the resources that local breeds possess to maintain genetic diversity as a primary key to reduce the risk of extinction. The aim of the present study was to investigate the variation of litter size traits between hot (spring to summer) and cold (autumn to winter) season. Data analysis included 2349 records of parities within all parities analysed for litter size traits as follows: Total Number of Born (TNB), Number of Born Alive (NBA), Number of Still Born (NSB), and Number of Weaned (NW) piglets collected from 717 sows (296 BS and 421 NP) from 2007 to 2014. Analysis of variance was applied using the General Linear Model (GLM) procedure in SAS. The fixed effects included in the model were breed (BR), herd (HD), season (SE), parity (PR), interaction between breed and herd (BR*HD), and interaction between breed and season (BR*SE). For each trait, least square means with standard errors were calculated. Statistically significant effects (P<0.05) affecting study traits were defined. The TNB during hot season of farrowing in BS vs. NP was 7.64±0.18 vs. 8.84±0.18, compared to the cold season with 7.54±0.2 vs. 8.54±0.19. Trait analysis indicated a significant effect of BR, PR, HD and SE on the respective traits. The same significant effects were found for NBA with 7.40±0.19 vs. 8.50±0.19 during hot, compared with cold season with 7.20±0.21 vs. 8.16±0.20. Only BR*HD interaction affected NSB significantly, with 0.23±0.09 vs. 0.32±0.09 during hot and 0.35±0.10 vs. 0.35±0.09 in cold season. PR and BR*HD had significant effect on NW with 6.73±0.22 vs. 7.08±0.22 in hot season and 6.80±0.24 vs. 6.80±0.22 in cold season. These results suggest that seasonality has a significant impact on differences between breeds, in particular TNB and NBA, which could be related to reproduction and management of litters in herd. Economically important traits, such as litter size, could be associated with day length and temperature variation over years. Seasonal variation between breeds could be ascribed to specific practices in the management of local pig breeders

Prospects and challenges for the conservation of farm animal genomic resources, 2015-2025

Livestock conservation practice is changing rapidly in light of policy developments, climate change and diversifying market demands. The last decade has seen a step change in technology and analytical approaches available to define, manage and conserve Farm Animal Genomic Resources (FAnGR). However, these rapid changes pose challenges for FAnGR conservation in terms of technological continuity, analytical capacity and integrative methodologies needed to fully exploit new, multidimensional data. The final conference of the ESF Genomic Resources program aimed to address these interdisciplinary problems in an attempt to contribute to the agenda for research and policy development directions during the coming decade. By 2020, according to the Convention on Biodiversity's Aichi Target 13, signatories should ensure that "…the genetic diversity of …farmed and domesticated animals and of wild relatives …is maintained, and strategies have been developed and implemented for minimizing genetic erosion and safeguarding their genetic diversity." However, the real extent of genetic erosion is very difficult to measure using current data. Therefore, this challenging target demands better coverage, understanding and utilization of genomic and environmental data, the development of optimized ways to integrate these data with social and other sciences and policy analysis to enable more flexible, evidence-based models to underpin FAnGR conservation. At the conference, we attempted to identify the most important problems for effective livestock genomic resource conservation during the next decade. Twenty priority questions were identified that could be broadly categorized into challenges related to methodology, analytical approaches, data management and conservation. It should be acknowledged here that while the focus of our meeting was predominantly around genetics, genomics and animal science, many of the practical challenges facing conservation of genomic resources are societal in origin and are predicated on the value (e.g., socio-economic and cultural) of these resources to farmers, rural communities and society as a whole. The overall conclusion is that despite the fact that the livestock sector has been relatively well-organized in the application of genetic methodologies to date, there is still a large gap between the current state-of-the-art in the use of tools to characterize genomic resources and its application to many non-commercial and local breeds, hampering the consistent utilization of genetic and genomic data as indicators of genetic erosion and diversity. The livestock genomic sector therefore needs to make a concerted effort in the coming decade to enable to the democratization of the powerful tools that are now at its disposal, and to ensure that they are applied in the context of breed conservation as well as development