Genomics of a revived breed: Case study of the Belgian campine cattle.

Liesbeth François,Bettine Hulsegge,Nadine Buys,Katrien Wijnrocx,Steven Janssens,Nicolas Gengler,Jack J Windig,Frédéric G Colinet,Tzen-Yuh Chiang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0175916

Liesbeth François, Bettine Hulsegge + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175916

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Abstract

Through centuries of both natural and artificial selection, a variety of local cattle populations arose with highly specific phenotypes. However, the intensification and expansion of scale in animal production systems led to the predominance of a few highly productive cattle breeds. The loss of local populations is often considered irreversible and with them specific qualities and rare variants could be lost as well. Over these last years, the interest in these local breeds has increased again leading to increasing efforts to conserve these breeds or even revive lost populations, e.g. through the use of crosses with similar breeds. However, the remaining populations are expected to contain crossbred individuals resulting from introgressions. They are likely to carry exogenous genes that affect the breed’s authenticity on a genomic level. Using the revived Campine breed as a case study, 289 individuals registered as purebreds were genotyped on the Illumina BovineSNP50. In addition, genomic information on the Illumina BovineHD and Illumina BovineSNP50 of ten breeds was available to assess the current population structure, genetic diversity, and introgression with phenotypically similar and/or historically related breeds. Introgression with Holstein and beef cattle genotypes was limited to only a few farms. While the current population shows a substantial amount of within-breed variation, the majority of genotypes can be separated from other breeds in the study, supporting the re-establishment of the Campine breed. The majority of the population is genetically close to the Deep Red (NL), Improved Red (NL) and Eastern Belgium Red and White (BE) cattle, breeds known for their historical ties to the Campine breed. This would support an open herdbook policy, thereby increasing the population size and consequently providing a more secure future for the breed.

Highlights

IntroductionLocal populations with specific and highly adapted phenotypes emerged as a consequence of both natural and artificial selection [4,5]
Local breeds are forced out of the market; qualities like robustness and adaptability are likely to be preserved in these local populations [4,8,9]
A total of 346 Campine animals were sampled from ten farms in Flanders, all registered at Cooperatie Rundveeverbetering B.V. (CRV) at the moment of sampling

Summary

Introduction

Local populations with specific and highly adapted phenotypes emerged as a consequence of both natural and artificial selection [4,5]. Intensification and expansion of scale in livestock farming has led to the demise of local populations more suitable to extensive farming systems [4,6]. While selection within local populations was attempted, the lower attained selection intensity and lesser focus on breeding strategies, continuously increased the gap with highly productive breeds [7]. Local breeds are forced out of the (current) market; qualities like robustness (i.e. the ability of an animal to function in a broader range of environments) and adaptability are likely to be preserved in these local populations [4,8,9]

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