European Regional Focal Point for Animal Genetic Resources

Regional platform for the support of management, conservation and sustainable use of animal genetic resources

Scientific articles

Coancestry rate’s estimate of effective population size for genetic variability monitoring

Calculating accurate genetic variability indicators is fundamental in rare breeds. Effective population sizes can vary greatly depending on the method used. Here is a new try to improve this indicator.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12686-019-01092-0.pdf

 

Perception of livestock ecosystem services in grazing areas

Leroy et al. 2018

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Quality management practices of gene banks for livestock: A global review

Ex situ conservation is used as a tool to help preserving the genetic diversity of livestock on the long run. Implementing an effective quality management is therefore of key importance in order to preserve effectively this material of key importance. Within the IMAGE project, a survey was s distributed through networks of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that are  associated with animal genetic resources. Ninety responses were received from 62 countries. The gene banks were predominantly public institutions, with the main goal of preventing breed extinction. Approximately 30% of the banks reported having a quality  management system, 15 of which involved formal certification. Many other banks have plans  to implement formal quality management within the next five years. Regarding specific  aspects of quality management, more emphasis was placed on material entering the banks than on eventual utilization.  Sharing of knowledge could standardize  procedures and cooperating peers could evaluate the each other’s quality management systems.

To read the full article, follow this link: Gene bank quality management