Breeding in Animal Production

Animal Breeding is simply the application of

genetic principles to enhance or improve the

production efficiency of farm animals.

Ugwu Emmanuel with a breeding boar

Two Basic Breeding Systems ;

1. Inbreeding

2. Outbreeding

Inbreeding

Inbreeding is the mating of closely related

animals together. It is further classified into

two groups:

•Close breeding

•Line breeding

Close breeding is the mating of sire (father) to daughters, son to Dam (mother), or full brother to full sister. 

Line breeding is the mating of not

too closely related animals together.

Outbreeding

Outbreeding is the mating of unrelated animals together. Outbreeding is subdivided into:

i. Outcrossing : This is the mating of

unrelated purebred animals within the

same breed.

ii. Crossbreeding: This is the mating of

animals of different breeds together.

iii. Grading-up : This is the mating of

sires of a given breed to non-descript

females and their offspring.

A lot of Animal farmers don’t know which

breeding system is the best. In fact, some

farmers just mate their animals, not minding

the breed or family of the animals they are

mating together.

The most common breeding systems are

Inbreeding and Crossbreeding. I defined

Inbreeding earlier as the mating of closely

related animals together while Crossbreeding is the mating of animals of different breeds together. If you are mating two animals of the same breed or the same family together, that is Inbreeding. But did you know that Inbreeding is not advisable for commercial farming 

Negative effects of Inbreeding are as follow:

1. Poor  growth rate of

animals: When Inbreeding is continuously or

intensely carried out, the growth rate and

mature weight of the offspring (progeny) is

negatively affected. That is, the growth rate

and mature weight would moderately

decrease.

2. Poor reproductive

performance: The continuous/heavy Inbreeding practice is that the reproductive performance or efficiency of the progeny will reduce progressively.

3. Vulnerability to diseases

As the Inbreeding activity continues, the health status of the progeny continues to decrease. The animals becomes vulnerable to all forms of diseases and mortality rate increases.

Ugwu Emmanuel

Zulinkx Agro & Vet Services

08134750806