INBREEDING

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21147, 24 April 1934, Page 8

INBREEDING

VALUE IN STOCK RAISING

The importance of in-breeding in the raising of stock and in the fixing of desirable characteristics was discussed by Mr II P. Donald in an address at College last In-breeding, said Mr Donald, had occurred amongst wild animals and in man in the past, while to-day it played an important part in scientific stock-breeding. Particularly amongst animals with the herd-instinct was extreme in-breed-ing to be observed. Deer and cattle were good examples, for one male dominated the herd until oriven away by a stronger member of his sex, usually a son, and thus in-breeding went on, apparently with no illeffects. A similar process had been made use of extensively in breeding domestic animals, and even in the human race it was not unknown. Old Beliefs Disproved Common belief was that in-brecding was harmful, and that sterility and deformity were frequently the result, but this implication, declared Mr Donald, was based on some original "taboo" or decree forbidding such unions. Work on the in-breeding of rats provided a fund of useful information, and interesting results had been obtained. At first there had been a loss of fertility, vitality, and figure, apparently proving the old contention that these were the inevitable results of the practice. Now, however, this was recognised to be due to the segregation of harmful characteristics in the original "outbred" stock. Breeding from progeny already inbred on the other hand gave excellent results. New Zealand Deer Herds Red deer in New Zealand, the speaker considered, offered an excellent example. Bred from one stag and two hinds in each case, the herds in Nelson and Wairarapn had, by sheer concentration of btood, produced a herd offering as good heads as almost any others in the world. Defects were attributable to the absence of natural enemies to carry on the process of selection and elimir/ite the weak progeny.