Horse breeding: genetic tests for the coat colors chestnut, bay and black. Results from a preliminary study in the Swiss Freiberger horse breed

Abstract

Coat color played an important role during domestication and formation of breeds. Livestock breeders often had special preferences for particular color phenotypes because they believed them to be associated with performance or fitness traits. Socio-cultural reasons might have had an influence on color selection as well. Recently genetic tests on DNA level got available to genotype in any individual horse for basic horse coat colors (chestnut, bay, black). In particular, hidden carriers of the recessive chestnut and black allele are recognizable with these tests. A sample of 162 Franches-Montagnes horses from Switzerland was genotyped for the alleles for chestnut and black. The analysis of allele frequencies revealed a high prevalence of the chestnut allele and a low frequency of the black allele in this population. Rare colors are in demand on the market. The statistical analysis of 1369 offspring from five stallions indicate, that darker shades of basic color phenotypes (dark chestnut, dark bay) follow a recessive mode of inheritance in the Franches-Montagnes horse breed.