Background: Interactions between inbreeding and maternal effects have received little attention, and the effect of maternal age on inbreeding depression in offspring has been almost entirely neglected. Maternal age affects allocation of resources and other materials to offspring, which can affect the fitness consequences of inbreeding. An interaction between inbreeding and maternal age thus has...

The objective of this study was to examine the population structure of the Trakehner Horse breed. A total of 13 793 pedigree records were used for analysing the active breeding population and their ancestors dating back to 1950. Ancestors that were born before 1950 were called as base animals. The average generation interval was calculated as 10.2 years. The effective population size (Ne) was e...

OBJECTIVE-To estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations among 4 traits of hip joints (distraction index [DI], dorsolateral subluxation [DLS] score, Norberg angle [NA], and extended-hip joint radiograph [EHR] score) and to derive the breeding values for these traits in dogs. ANIMALS-2,716 dogs of 17 breeds (1,551 dogs in which at least 1 hip joint trait was measured). PROCEDURES-The NA was...

Inbreeding coefficients and coancestry were used to investigate the genetic base in the Taiwan sugarcane breeding program. Six of the potentially most important ROC varieties in Taiwan were studied. Four ROC varieties had inbreeding coefficients. The largest inbreeding coefficient was found in ROClO (0.281), followed by ROC9 (0.156). Since ROC9 and ROClO are currently the leading cane varieties...

Hypothesis: Stressful inter-specific competition enhances inbreeding depression. Organisms: Creeping spearwort (Ranunculus reptans L.) and its common competitor, the creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.). Field site: Outdoor common garden experiment at the University of Potsdam. Methods: We collected plants of 12 natural populations of R. reptans differing in mean parental inbreeding coe...

Inbreeding can threaten population persistence by reducing disease resistance through the accelerated loss of gene diversity (i.e. heterozygosity). Such inbreeding depression can affect many different fitness-related traits, including survival, reproductive success, and parasite susceptibility. Empirically quantifying the effects of inbreeding on parasite resistance is therefore important for e...

Kashmiri population in the northeast of Pakistan has strong historical, cultural and linguistic affinities with the neighbouring populations of upper Punjab and Potohar region of Pakistan. However, the study of consanguineous unions, which are customarily practised in many populations of Pakistan, revealed marked differences between the Kashmiris and other populations of northern Pakistan with ...