The Effects of Inbreeding in Rabbits

牧童

The Effects of Inbreeding in Rabbits

Inbreeding can lead to a number of health problems for rabbits, as it allows recessive, but bad, genetic defects to show themselves. From the perspective of the breeder, it also leads to more uniformity in terms of the rabbits’ genetic traits. If this is desirable it is sometimes practiced by breeders, as, for example, it may make future rabbit generations more uniform in color.
Inbreeding can also worsen or bring to light genetic problems which otherwise would not show at all. When developing a new breed, it may be necessary to inbreed several generations, just to select towards uniformity which can be used as a more controlled basis for the breed. Inbreeding can be between rabbits of the same generation, but if you are familiar with the history of the rabbits in question, you may mix generations. In each iteration, the goal is to select rabbits that are closest to a desired trait, such as longer ears or a color hair. Ideally the breeder would be able to select only a specific trait and randomize the others, but obviously this is not possible. One of the results of inbreeding is to breed two rabbits with the same trait, so that after a couple generations most or all the recessive alternates to the gene are removed.
The opposite of inbreeding is outbreeding- breeding rabbits with an unrelated line. This can make the line more stable and remove bad genes, but it will also potentially introduce new, undesired traits. This can make the rabbits larger, sturdier, and healthier. Outcrossing is a specific type of outbreeding, which is breeding with another specific line. This potentially allows bringing in other desirable traits, but in a more controlled manner than if bred with a rabbit without a pedigree. This is usually not necessary, but may be if the breeder takes a line too far. For example, it is possible to make the rabbits and their heads too small through excessive inbreeding.

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