20 Principles for Conservation Breeding

Adapted from an article by Jeff Bragg

  1. Maintain balance of sires and dams
  2. Eschew incestuous matings
  3. Understand and monitor coefficient of inbreeding
  4. Pay attention to the trend in COI
  5. Calculate number of unique ancestors
  6. Know the genetic load but don’t obsess about it
  7. Use pedigree analysis
  8. Conserve sire and dam-line diversity
  9. Practice assortative mating
  10. Maintain high generation time
  11. Avoid repeat breedings
  12. Ensure sibling contribution
  13. Monitor fitness indicators
  14. Attempt founder balancing
  15. Consider outcross matings
  16. Monitor population growth
  17. Seek balanced traits
  18. Avoid unfit breeding stock
  19. Avoid reproductive technology
  20. Restrict artificial selection
The full article by Jeffrey Bragg is online here