Noodzaak voor genetisch beheer van de Nederlandse trekpaardenpopulatie

Abstract

The Dutch Draught horse is a rare Dutch horse breed. To conserve rare breeds, it is of great importance to monitor population size and increase in inbreeding and kinship in a population. When screening the Dutch Draught horse population, it turned out that inbreeding (and potential consequences) should be controlled by the studbook (KVTH) with participation of breeders. During the most recent generation (2010-2017) fewer foals were born annually compared to the generation before. Also, the percentage of foals that is used in breeding at a later age decreased steadily. At the same time there is a considerable increase in the kinship between horses that are used in breeding. The increase in inbreeding passes the FAO threshold of 0.5% per generation. In light of the increase in kinship, we expect that the increase in inbreeding will even be higher in the future. Screening the population clearly showed that genetic management is needed to be able to better control inbreeding (and potential accompanying consequences). It is possible to drastically reduce the inbreeding increase through genetic management