Livestock production faces major challenges through the coincidence of major drivers of change, some with conflicting directions. These are:

1. An unprecedented global change in demands for traditional livestock products such as meat, milk and eggs.

2. Large changes in the demographic and regional distribution of these demands.

3. The need to reduce poverty in rural communities by providing sustainable livelihoods.

4. The possible emergence of new agricultural outputs such as bio-fuels making a significant impact upon traditional production systems.

5. A growing awareness of the need to reduce the environmental impact of livestock production.

6. The uncertainty in the scale and impact of climate change. This paper explores these challenges from a scientific perspective in the face of the large-scale and selective erosion of our animal genetic resources, and concludes thai there is a stronger and more urgent need than ever before to secure the livestock genetic resources available to humankind through a comprehensive global conservation programme.

When the Spaniards discovered and conquered the Canary Islands in the 15th Century, they found a type of hair sheep, a breed described by the colonists as “white in colour, large in size and with horns in the males”. This discovery provokes the question: from where did these sheep originate? All other breeds of wool-less sheep in the world in that period were located in the sub-Saharan regions, far away from the Canary Islands and with no possible connection.

Archaeologists claim that Northwest Africa was populated by wool sheep from 4000–3000 BC. Northwest Africa is the nearest geographical point of the African continent to the Canary Archipelago. It was also there that the native pre-Hispanic human population is thought to have originated. Did the wool-less sheep breed arrive with these people? The answer is probably yes. It is likely that the population of hair sheep arrived between 3000–2000 BC in a northern expansion of these animals, accompanying the first inhabitants of the islands.

After the Spanish conquest, the Canary Islands provided a necessary stop for the explorers of the New World. Various testimonies exist describing the arrival of the first sheep to the Caribbean Islands. This process of animal introduction started with Columbus′ second voyage, after which domestic animals formed a usual part of the shipment arrangements. This raises a third question: what role did the Canary Island sheep play in the origin and evolution of the present Caribbean and Latin-American hair breeds? The majority of researchers working with these animals in America and the Caribbean think that the origin of their wool-less sheep breeds is related to the traffic of black slaves during the 17th and 18th centuries. It may be claimed that this influence of sub-Saharan animals exists as an additional influence of other wool-less sheep breeds, which arrived in the Caribbean from the Canary Islands two centuries earlier. Today, the ancient native hair sheep breed is extinct in the Canary Islands although some wool-less sheep have recently been introduced from Venezuela.

All these questions and ideas are investigated in this paper, through historical references and current research.

La expansión actual de los criterios conservacionistas han promovido la utilización de las modernas metodologías que brinda la genética molecular para la caracterización de las razas, aunque la caracterización genética clásica basada en marcadores bioquímicos e inmunogenéticos se ha aplicado durante muchos años sobre todo en rumiantes y equinos en pruebas de identidad y control de filiación. El estudio del polimorfismo de los microsatélites del ADN han ofrecido muy buenos resultados, aunque también se ha trabajado con éxito en la investigación del ADN mitocondrial y de fragmentos de ADN amplificados aleatoriamente. En España estos métodos han sido utilizados en las especies bovina, ovina, caprina, porcina, equina y canina.

De cualquier forma, es importante considerar que la obtención de perfiles genéticos poblacionales para los caracteres morfológicos y productivos, es obligada en una aplicación práctica de los resultados obtenidos con los marcadores genéticos. En el presente trabajo se describen las principales iniciativas desarrolladas en los aspectos mencionados, ubicando los equipos españoles especializados.

The aim of this study was to characterise the Polish Red cattle breed, the only existing native breed in Poland. The origin and conformation of this breed and its historical development, distribution and performance were described. Moreover, the attention was paid to the attempts to improve the breed milk performance by crossbreeding with Jersey, Danish Red and Angler and beef performance by crossbreeding with Black-and-White, Red-and-White, Simmental and beef bulls.

Before the Second World War the Polish Red held the rank of an international breed, and since the middle of the previous century had been found almost throughout Poland. In the 1950s it still constituted 22% of the whole cattle population in Poland. Indeed in 1954 the Polish Red cattle population amounted to over 1.5 million head. Currently, Polish Red cattle are in danger of extinction. Only 300 cows are included in the Program of Genetic Resources Conservation and scarcely several hundred embryos and semen doses are stored in the Semen Bank of the National Research Institute of Animal Production in Balice.

In 2001 the number of recorded Polish Red milking cows was 1 201. Their average performance amounted to 3 786 kg of milk with 4.26% of fat and 3.39% of protein. However, milk yield of the cows at the best farms exceeded 5 500 kg.

Turkey's 21.8 million head of sheep comprise a rich array of fat-tailed and thin-tailed native breeds and crosses of these with animals of exotic origin. The structure of agriculture is such that most farms are predominantly subsistence oriented, of small size, keep few animals and provide only minimal inputs. Native breeds have evolved to meet these conditions and are generally well adapted to the natural environment, inadequate and unbalanced nutrition and disease stress. In the last 80 years, there have been attempts to modify the natural gene pool and many distinct breed types are in danger of or have already suffered extinction. This paper describes some of the major sheep genetic resources and their conservation status. The government is now aware of the danger of impoverishment or loss of this important aspect of biodiversity and has established programmes for conservation and preservation of several native breeds. Government, research institutions and producers should work together to ensure that the local gene pool is preserved and can thus continue to contribute to biodiversity and sustainable livestock production.

The genetic relationship among Nigeria's breeds of sheep and their crosses was studied using microsatellite DNA polymorphisms. DNA samples extracted from four Nigeria's breeds of sheep (West African Dwarf, the Balami, Uda and Yankassa) and their crosses were analysed using 30 Bovine microsatellite markers for diversity studies. Twenty of the markers were amplified by the sheep genome. Nineteen of the loci were polymorphic and were used to calculate genetic distances (Ds) between the breeds based on allele frequencies of the microsatellite. The phylogenetic relationships between the breeds were similarly estimated.

With the total number of loci studied, 285 alleles were generated and a high degree of heterozygosity was recorded (0.57 to 0.72). A relatively high degree of reliability could be placed on the tree topology with the relationship between breeds displaying a closer relationship between the Yankassa and Uda (Ds 0.356). The genetic distance was 0.432, 0.534 and 0.665 between the West African Dwarf (WAD) and the Yankassa, Uda and Balami respectively which also indicated a closer relationship between the Yankassa and the WAD compared to the essentially Northern breeds (Uda and Balami). This further confirms the evolutionary divergence of the breeds which makes them distinct entities.

The data suggests that microsatellite DNA markers are very useful tools for studying the genetic relationships among these sheep breeds. The highly polymorphic alleles could similarly be exploited in breed improvement and development.

The study was carried out in selected districts in the Northwestern Amhara, from October 2012 to May 2013. The objective of the study were to undertake on-farm and on-station phenotypic characterization of Fogera Cattle in comparison with two different local cattle population, to characterize the population structure and to identifying trait preferences, breeding management and to recommend breeding strategy for Fogera cattle. Both purposive and random samplings were employed. Data were gathered through semi-structured questionnaire, focus group discussions, field observations, census data, direct count and body measurements. About 126 smallholder farmers were interviewed. About 21 quantitative and 17 qualitative phenotypic data types were also generated from 332 cattle. The Effective population size (Ne) and rate of inbreeding (ΔF) were calculated from the counted population structure data. Both GLM procedures of SAS and descriptive statistics of SPSS software's were employed for data analyses. The results indicated that Fogera cattle were kept mostly for milk (97.62 percent). The main threats identified for the survival of Fogera cattle were scarcity of feed resources and interbreeding with other indigenous cattle, which are less demanding in terms of feed. Fogera cattle population has specific morphological appearance. Generally about 65.2 percent of male pure-Fogera cattle population are having large hump and large dewlap (93.5 percent) with cervico-thoracic (82.6 percent) hump position and long tail (97.8 percent), respectively. The coat pattern of male pure-Fogera cattle is dominated by the spotted coat pattern (82.6 percent) with 43.5 percent white black and 39.1 percent black white coat colour. Female Fogera cattle have medium (94.4 percent) hump size at cervico-thoracic positions (73.2 percent), large dewlap (62.7 percent) and long tail which is well below the hock (91.5 percent). The coat pattern of female pure-Fogera cattle is dominated by white spotted (80.3 percent) with 43.0 percent white black and 33.1 percent black white coat colour Most of the quantitative traits were highly significantly (P ≤ 0.001) affected by breed type. Except horn length and horn space all of quantitative traits for both sexes of pure-Fogera cattle from on-station were significantly (P ≤ 0.05) larger than those of the on-farm. The average linear body measurement taken on a total of 46 male pure-Fogera cattle populations were 42.68 ± 0.56 cm (mouth circumference), 16.35 ± 0.72 cm (horn length), 37.04 ± 1.16 cm (dewlap width) and 129.17 ± 1.33 cm (height at wither). The average linear body measurements for female pure-Fogera cattle were 38.23 ± 0.18 cm (mouth circumference), 13.81 ± 0.37 cm (horn length), 27.20 ± 0.42 cm (dewlap width) and 123.68 ± 0.52 cm (height at wither). The population structure were dominated by Pure-Fogera constituting 37.02 percent, Interbred with Fogera (33.71 percent) and non-Fogera (29.23 percent). The effective population size of pure-Fogera cattle was 4295, with 9016 total population. The average inbreeding level for the population was 0.012 percent. Inbreeding is at a low level and the effective population size is large. The calculated parameters indicate satisfactory genetic diversity in Fogera cattle. Milk yield, colour, power, body size and growth rate of Fogera were the most dominant traits perceived to be good by the respondents. The special qualification of this breed is to live at high amount of flooding areas with adapting other very challenging environment. Pure breeding of pure-Fogera, interbred with Fogera and non-Fogera type of breeds was used for breeding practice with natural mating. The Andassa Research Center established in 1964 as Fogera cattle population improving centre, but according to different source, population viability and population structure indicated that the population are not viable and highly admixture with other indigenous cattle breeds. According to this in order to improve the population status of Fogera cattle we recommended control with open-nucleus breeding strategy. So in order to minimize the risk status of this breed and conserve for the future generation any responsible agent should be given priority.

Cette étude s'est intéressée à l'identification des différents écotypes de la race Barbarine, principale race ovine à queue grasse en Tunisie. Un inventaire national a été conduit dans les différents étages bioclimatiques du pays allant du Nord subhumide jusqu'au Sud Saharien, en passant par le Centre semi-aride. Les principaux résultats ont permis de mettre en évidence au sein de cette race 10 écotypes différents:

1. Quatre écotypes au Nord, de grand format à tête rousse, de grand format à tête noire, à robe noire, et de type “Sardi” à museau, “lunettes” et membres noirs.

2. Quatre écotypes au Centre, de format moyen avec dominance de la tête rousse, à tête rousse avec une liste frontale blanche, à tête claire tirant vers le blanc et à tête rousse et à queue arquée.

3. Deux écotypes au Sud, de petit format à tête rousse, et de type “Sagâa” avec une tête blanche, un museau et des “lunettes” de couleur brune. Cette diversité d'écotypes au sein de la race Barbarine constitue un apport nouveau aux connaissances des races ovines autochtones. Jusqu'à maintenant, seuls deux écotypes, à tête rousse et tête noire, étaient répertoriés au sein de la race Barbarine.

The main characteristics of Beldi (meaning “native” in Arabic) poultry raised in rural areas were studied in the Khenifra Region through extensive surveys.

Beldi chickens have large phenotypic variability. Black, brown, grey and white colours, pure or mixed, are frequently observed in chickens' featherings while turkeys are predominantly bronze. Plumage types were fairly homogeneous in both species. Single combs and dented combs were respectively predominant in chicken hens and roosters.

Sexual maturity was reached at 154 days for roosters, 168 for hens in chicken, around 217 days for toms and 231 for turkey hens. The age at first egg averaged 5.8 months for hens and 8.4 months for turkey hens. The number of eggs laid per hen per year was 78 for chicken and 69 for turkey. Hatchability rate was 78 and 80 percent for chicken and turkeys, respectively. Diseases were the main cause of mortality, which could affect up to 77 percent of chicken flocks.

Few preliminary urgent steps for the conservation of Beldi poultry are discussed with other production improvement proposals.

A survey was conducted in the native tract of the Punjab Brown breed of chicken to study management practices, as well as morphological, performance and egg quality parameters. The study covered the three districts of Gurdaspur district in Punjab, and Ambala and Yamunanagar districts in Haryana, and included 532 birds and 61 families. Twenty-six microsatellite loci were used to assess genetic variability. The Punjab Brown is a multi-purpose breed, yielding good quality meat and eggs. Birds are reared in the backyard system and shelter is provided only during the night in the form of small enclosures mostly made up of mud and sometimes of wood. Average flock size is 8.7. Plumage colour is mostly brown and the pattern is usually solid but is sometimes spotted or striped. Males in particular have black spots/stripes on their neck, wings and tail. The comb is red, of single type and erect in position. The average weight of cocks and hens is 2.15±0.94 and 1.57±0.04 kg respectively. Hens start laying eggs at the age of about five to six months. Clutch size is about four to five. Average egg production is around 60–80 eggs per year. Eggshell colour is mostly light brown and average egg weight is 46.0±1.91g. The average weight of shell, albumin and yolk were 5.4±0.21, 24.4±0.63 and 16.2±0.48g respectively. Yolk index, albumin index and Haugh units were 0.41±0.005, 0.10±0.006 and 82.80±0.98 respectively. A total of 218 alleles were observed. The number of alleles per locus varied from 4–14. The mean PIC value for all the loci was 0.744. Twenty-four loci were found to be neutral (P<0.05) using Ewens Watterson test of neutrality. The exact test revealed that 15 loci deviated from Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium. The population has not undergone any recent bottleneck as revealed by quantitative and graphical qualitative tests.

Based on several sources of information an overview has been given on the development, present situation and problems of conservation of animal genetic resources in Europe.

Presently, 1 029 breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses and asses are registered by the EAAP-Animal Genetic Data Bank, Hanover. 42.8 % of the breeds are classified as being ‘at risk’. More than 360 conservation programmes are underway, which, however, in many cases seem to be operated independently of the status of endangerment and of similar breeds in other countries.

The primary objectives of conservation in Europe, i.e. ‘conservation for potential use, later’ and ‘conservation for cultural reasons’, are different from the objective ‘conservation for sustainable use, now’, which is primarily expressed for developing countries. Different objectives call for different answers to questions, such as: are breeds appropriate units of genetic diversity, how should endangerment be defined, what should be conserved and is incrossing and selection compatible with conservation?

In view of the large number of breeds ‘at risk’ and of similar breeds existing in different countries as well as the high costs of conservation it is concluded that characterisation of breeds for genetic uniqueness is presently the most urgent task in conservation. This requires effective co-operation across national borders in Europe.

Phenotypic description helps in assessing the physical attributes of species and is also an indicator of the relevance and importance attached to such attributes in their natural environments. This study was conducted to describe patterns and distribution of phenotypic diversity in Nigerian Muscovy ducks. One thousand and twenty (1 020) adult male and female Muscovy ducks reared extensively were randomly drawn from the Rain Forest, Derived Savanna and Guinea Savanna agro-ecological zones/ecotypes and were visually appraised and scored for plumage, skin, shank, feet/web, bill, bean and caruncle colours. Data on qualitative traits were analysed with descriptive statistics (percentages) while fixed effect model was used to investigate relationship between plumage and skin colours and body weight. Results revealed variations in qualitative traits; however, across ecotypes, the predominant plumage, skin, shank, feet, bill, bean and caruncle colours were mottled (45 percent), white (88 percent), yellow (50 percent), yellow (60 percent), black (58 percent), black (69 percent) and red (84 percent), respectively. Besides, significant (P < 0.05) association was observed between plumage and skin colours and body weight. The reported variations in phenotypic traits of Nigerian Muscovy ducks indicate diversity in their genome, absence of selection and the need for their selection and improvement.

On-station characterisation of indigenous Menz (n = 1 639) and Horro (n = 1 135) sheep of Ethiopia in the central highlands of the country was undertaken between 1992 and 1997 at the Debre Berhan Research Station of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to study the phenotypic characteristics of the breeds. Body weights, linear body measurements, and testicular parameters were studied. The traits studied were live body weights (LWT), body length (BL), heart girth (HG), height at withers (WH), pelvic width (PW), chest depth (CD), distance between last rib and tuber coxae (DLP-ATR), scrotal circumference (SC), testicular diameter (TD), testicular length (TL), and epididymal tail diameter (ED). All except LWT (which was also measured at birth) were measured at 3, 12 and 24 months age. Fixed effects included in the analyses were breed, sex, birth type, birth season, birth year, and significant first-order interactions.

The Horro sheep had significantly (P<0.05) larger LWT at all ages than the Menz by as much as 6 to 18%. In both breeds, lambs born single were significantly (P<0.05) heavier than those born as twins or triplets. In all age categories and both breeds, males were consistently heavier and larger in size than females. Except for lambs of 3 months of age, the Horro sheep had larger (at least P<0.05) testicular measurements than Menz for all age categories.

Turkey's 10.6 million head of cattle comprise a rich array of native breeds and types but these are being increasingly eroded by the often indiscriminate use of exotic genotypes. The structure of agriculture is such that most farms are predominantly subsistence oriented, of small size, keep few animals and provide only minimal inputs. Native breeds have evolved to meet these conditions and are generally well adapted to the natural environment, inadequate and unbalanced nutrition and disease stress. In the last 80 years, there has been much modification of the natural gene pool and many distinct breed types are in danger of or have already suffered extinction. This paper describes some of the major remaining cattle genetic resources and their conservation status. Government is now aware of the danger of the impoverishment or loss of this important aspect of biodiversity and has established programmes for conservation and preservation of several native breeds. Government, research institutions and producers should work together to ensure that the local gene pool is preserved and can thus continue to contribute to biodiversity and sustainable livestock production.

The CGIAR research programme on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security, in collaboration with several partners is testing a portfolio of interventions to address the threat of changing climatic conditions for smallholder farming communities living beside river flood plains, grouped into “Climate Smart Villages” (CSVs). We present characteristics of farms in CSV in relation to small ruminant (SR) production and the scenario for a breeding and improvement programme. Information was collated using participatory systems research methods from 140 households in seven CSVs in Nyando basin, Kenya. Although most households were headed by men, there were a higher proportion of adult women within the communities, and literacy levels were moderate. A total of 58 percent of the population owned <1 ha of land for growing crops and rearing on average 6.96 ± 3.35 Tropical Livestock Units comprising different species of animals. Women headed households owned more sheep which were mainly crosses of unspecified local breeds, than Goats which were mainly the Small East African breed-type. Mating among the SR was random, with no control of inbreeding as flocks mixed in grazing fields and at water points. Farmers desired large and resilient animals for better market prices; however, growth rates were slow. The SR flocks were dynamic with 31 percent of the animals moving in and out of flocks in a year. A community breeding programme optimally using available resources and incorporating gender integrated innovative technologies could be implemented for the CSV, alongside strong capacity development on animal husbandry, health and marketing of products.

Indigenous chickens (1C) are the commonest type of chickens raised in Malawi, especially in the rural areas. The management system is primarily of the free range type which is characterised by lack of supplementary feeding, minimal housing and little or no animal health services. This in turn results in low bird production in terms of egg and meat production when compared to modern breeds. Cross breeding the 1C with improved breeds such as the Black Australorp is one avenue through which productivity of the indigenous chickens may be improved. The advantages of the indigenous Malawi chicken and issues for their conservation and genetic improvement are discussed.

The genetic diversity of most livestock species is reducing and it is not possible to preserve all livestock breeds. In order to preserve as much of the genetic diversity as possible we must first have a robust method of measuring the genetic differences between breeds. The analysis of microsatellite allele frequency is now the method of choice. Using sheep as an example, this paper describes the methods used for both microsatellite amplification and the analysis of the data once it has been collected.

The objective of this study was the morphological characterization of the sheep population in the southwest of Tunisia. A joint analysis of quantitative and qualitative characters was carried out on 987 animals of three breeds: two local breeds (Barbarine (BAR) and Queue Fine de l'Ouest (QFG and QFT)) and an exotic breed introduced from Morocco, the D'man (DMN) breed.

Results on quantitative characters (height at withers (HG), body length (LC), thorax perimeter (PT), body weight of males (P♂) and body weight of females (P♀)) showed a significant superiority of the Queue Fine de l'Ouest breed compared to the other two breeds. On the other hand, results on qualitative characters (fleece color, horn and wattles) showed white to be the dominant color of the fleece in the Barbarine and Queue Fine breeds, while for the D'man breed there were various colors. Generally, females of the three breeds were polled while males were horned for the Queue Fine and polled for the Barbarine and D'man breeds. The Barbarine distinguishes itself from the other breeds by the total absence of wattles which are predominantly missing in the other two breeds.

Genetic distances estimated on the basis of quantitative characters showed that distances found between the Barbarine-D'man and Fine Tail of Ouest-D'man breeds were higher than those found between the Barbarine-Queue Fine breeds.

Sahiwal cattle are indigenous to Pakistan and India, and were imported to Kenya in 1930s and 1940s. The breed has been developed as a dual-purpose breed and is utilised in smallholder farming systems, beef and dairy ranching in marginal areas of Kenya which form 80% of the country. Conservation efforts include keeping of Sahiwal herds on state farms, individual ranches and the establishment of the Sahiwal semen bank at the Central Artificial Insemination Station at Kabete near Nairobi. Breeding of the Sahiwal has been promoted by the formation of the Sahiwal Breeders Society which has established breed standards for registration of Sahiwal cattle with the Kenya Stud Book.

Achai is an as yet undocumented but well-adapted cattle breed of the Hindu Kush Mountains of northern Pakistan, which is reared under sedentary farming system (SFS) and transhumant farming system (TFS). This paper compares the morphological (physical and morphometric) characteristics of this cattle breed under both farming systems to know the effect of these styles of management. Data were collected from 108 adult females and 108 males in SFS and 108 females and 36 males in TFS on physical characteristics (colour of the coat, horns, eyelashes, muzzle, hoof, switch) and morphometric measurements – i.e. heart girth, body length, height at withers, height at hipbone, face length, horn length, horn circumference, ear (length and width), neck length, dewlap length, chine length, loin length, rump (length and width), length below knee, hoof circumference, tail and switch length. Results showed that farming systems significantly affect most of the morphological characteristics of both sexes, particularly the morphometric measurements with tall and leggy conformation for TFS cows and bulls. This indicates an adaptation to long distance transhumance and mountain terrain grazing. It can be concluded that the Achai has the potential to adapt to the requirements of specific farming systems. There is hence a need for the conservation of its adaptive traits in both farming systems.