Every breeder in his work inevitably tries to find a way to improve certain characteristics of his pets. And he also needs to ensure that these signs are consistently transmitted from generation to generation. And this can only be achieved through inbreeding - a closely related crossing.
Why do inbreeding?
Inbreeding is the most effective method of purebred dog breeding. It allows to double the function of the ancestral ancestor due to the presence of its genes in both the paternal and in the maternal ancestry . After all, parents give their children only half the gene set that they have. Therefore, the proportion of doubled genes directly depends on the degree of inbreeding.
Close inbreeding in dogs is used to fix the genes of an outstanding ancestor. This is especially necessary when breeding new breeds. But there are also situations when inbreeding is used because of the inability to find a worthy partner for mating . Also, with the help of closely related crossings, it is possible to identify specific carriers of anomalies among manufacturers.
The positive and negative sides of inbreeding
Inbreeding gives breeders the following advantages when breeding genetically healthy breeds:
- closely related cross-breeding increases hereditary one-sidedness;
- Inbreeding allows you to quickly identify and eliminate from the breeding of bearing recessive defects;
- when inbreeding, the genetic potential and the qualitative model are stabilized;
- closely related crossing allows you to accurately predict the quality of future offspring.
However, ill-conceived inbreeding in dogs can have serious consequences:
- homozygosity significantly enhances and fixes even the most insignificant undesirable trait in a particular breed group;
- With prolonged inbreeding, the physical characteristics and the appearance of the animals are significantly weakened;
- the closely related crossings adversely affect the reproductive function and viability of dogs;
- The initial genotype of the population is not replenished, which has certain consequences.
For the benefit and harm of inbreeding, experts have been arguing for many years. And these disputes are completely justified. Indeed, due to the closely related crossing, it is possible not only to improve the population, but also to irreparably damage the results of long-term breeding work.