Exploring an inbreeding control system using insemination bulls in closed production systems without pedigrees

Abstract

If an average consanguinity (F), threshold is exceeded (about 6.25%) in an animal production system, a series of anomalies may begin to appear, such as the appearance of autosomal recessive diseases, a decrease in the immune response capacity and in the productive and reproductive averages of the herds, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. This problem can be magnified in production systems in which genetic improvement is carried out through artificial insemination (IA by its acronym in Spanish), since, in several countries, high degrees of family kinship between inseminations bulls belonging to the same breed have been reported. In the present study are presented the results of the simulation of a strategy for the control of inbreeding in productive herds of the Aberdeen angus breed, based on the management of genealogical records of insemination bulls. The results of this study indicate that, in theory, it is possible to implement consanguinity control programs in productive farms of beef cattle subjected to IA, through a strategy that does not depend on the existence of farm genealogical records, but on records of insemination bulls. Said strategy would depend solely on the information provided to the producers by the semen supplying companies. However, the proposed method is not applicable to breeding farms, which cannot do without genealogical records and consanguinity control that considers pairings of minimal kinship.