Kerncollecties van Nederlandse landbouwhuisdierrassen in de genenbank: Huidige stand van zaken en prioriteiten voor aanvulling van de dierlijke genenbankcollecties

The Centre for Genetic Resources Netherlands (CGN) of Wageningen University & Research manages genebank collections of livestock species: cattle, pigs, horses, sheep, goats, dogs, ducks, geese, rabbits and chickens (no material from pigeons and bees has been stored as of July 2022). The objective of the animal genebank is to safeguard the genetic diversity of farm animal breeds in the Netherlands for the future. The emphasis is on the conservation of the (rare) Dutch native / locally adapted breeds, with the main goal to create a core collection for each breed. A core collection should be of such a size that it is possible to reintroduce a breed by backcrossing in the case of extinction. For most breeds, there is limited material of sufficient quality stored and insufficient genetic diversity stored to, in the most extreme case, breed back an entire population of healthy animals. This report provides an overview of the core collections of Dutch farm animal breeds in the Dutch genebank, reference date July 2022, and calculates the size of the collections needed to breed back a breed if necessary. In the discussion, the opportunities and constraints per species are discussed. Based on the information gathered, a priority is set for each breed and animal species to focus on in the coming years.