Current status application of the selection index theory in pig breeding

International audienc

Breeding without Breeding: Is a Complete Pedigree Necessary for Efficient Breeding?

Complete pedigree information is a prerequisite for modern breeding and the ranking of parents and offspring for selection and deployment decisions. DNA fingerprinting and pedigree reconstruction can substitute for artificial matings, by allowing parentage delineation of naturally produced offspring. Here, we report on the efficacy of a breeding concept called “Breeding without Breeding” (BwB) that circumvents artificial matings, focusing instead on a subset of randomly sampled, maternally known but paternally unknown offspring to delineate their paternal parentage. We then generate the information needed to rank those offspring and their paternal parents, using a combination of complete (full-sib: FS) and incomplete (half-sib: HS) analyses of the constructed pedigrees. Using a random sample of wind-pollinated offspring from 15 females (seed donors), growing in a 41-parent western larch population, BwB is evaluated and compared to two commonly used testing methods that rely on either incomplete (maternal half-sib, open-pollinated: OP) or complete (FS) pedigree designs. BwB produced results superior to those from the incomplete design and virtually identical to those from the complete pedigree methods. The combined use of complete and incomplete pedigree information permitted evaluating all parents, both maternal and paternal, as well as all offspring, a result that could not have been accomplished with either the OP or FS methods alone. We also discuss the optimum experimental setting, in terms of the proportion of fingerprinted offspring, the size of the assembled maternal and paternal half-sib families, the role of external gene flow, and selfing, as well as the number of parents that could be realistically tested with BwB

THE INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BIODIVERSITY AND RURAL VIABILITY: SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT, LAND USE SCENARIOS AND NORWEGIAN MOUNTAINS IN A EUROPEAN CONTEXT

The decline and restructuring of agriculture is particularly evident in mountain areas, leading to forest recolonisation on former mountain pastures threatening biodiversity and landscape qualities, and the appeal of the mountain landscape for recreation and tourism. Land use change scenarios based on different agri-environmental incentives were developed for the Jotunheimen mountains, Norway, in collaboration with local stakeholders. Sustainability assessments of the scenarios underscored the connections between landscape, biodiversity and local cultural heritage as the fundament for the development of local enterprises for tourism and niche production. Biodiversity values solely, were not considered to be of major importance by the stakeholders.Agri-environmental policies, landscape-ecological models, livestock grazing, local participation, semi-natural habitats, BioScene