Impact of the use of large-scale embryo transfer programs in the increase of inbreeding and relativeness in the Argentinean Polo horse

FLORENCIA AZCONA; ANTONIO MOLINA ALCALÁ; MERCEDES VALERA; JESUS DORADO; SEBASTIÁN DEMYDA PEYRÁS

Córdoba

Conferencia; 22nd Annual ESDAR Conference 2018; 2018

European Society for Domestic Animal Reproduction

The Argentine Polo horse is outstanding among equine breeds of Argentina. Its phenotype was strongly selected for sport for decades which resulted in an excellent recognition of this breed worldwide. The breeding program largely depends on the use of embryo transfer and associated technologies, with almost 70% of registered offspring resulting from this technique in recent years. The objective of this study was to compare the genetic variability of individuals produced by embryo transfer or natural mating, using the pedigree data. The information was obtained from horses registered by the studbook of Argentinean polo horses in 2010 to 2015. The population was divided into two groups of 10259 and 6341 individuals, produced by either ET or NM. The analysis included the estimation of different population parameters such as generation interval, inbreeding coefficient (F), average relatedness (AR) and effective number of founders (Fe) and ancestors (Fa) in both groups. The generation interval was lower in the ET group compared to NM (8.8 vs. 9.4 years, respectively). The values of F and AR were 22% and 84% higher in the ET group (p