Abstract
The objective of this paper is to summarize the Italian Animal Genetic Resources (ItAnGR) recorded in the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS) of FAO. The breed data sheets of ItAnGR were implemented by the Italian National Focal Point (ItNFP) of FAO under the guidance of Prof. Donato Matassino and CONSDABI. The impressive amount of work done is documented by 299 breed data sheets. The average level of completeness of the data sheets is 48%, i.e. a value similar to the average for European Countries, and for half of ItAnGR updating is quite regular. The number of breeds/populations included is very high for cattle (61), sheep (84), goats (54), asses (15), horses (34) and pigs (45), while it is very low for chicken (6) and absent for the other species. The level of risk of ItAnGR described in DAD-IS is worrying as about one fifth of the breeds are yet extinct, one fifth is judged critical, almost one fifth is endangered and about two fifth are not at risk, transboundary breeds included. The priority for next years is to complete and update the existing data sheets, to implement new breed data sheets for avian species, buffaloes and shepherd and hunting dogs, and to implement the new PED (Production Environment Description) module for all breeds/populations. It is evident that complete and updated database of ItAnGR is a prerequisite for the implementing of a sound National Plan of Action for the safeguarding of farm animal biodiversity.
Introduction
The Domestic Animal Diversity Information System (DAD-IS, http://dad.fao.org) is hosted by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations). It is a communication and information tool for implementing strategies for the management of animal genetic resources (AnGR). It provides the user with searchable databases of breed-related information and images, management tools, and a library of references, links and contacts of Regional and National Coordinators for the Management of Animal Genetic Resources (CitationScherf et al., 2008).
The DAD-IS is the centre of a global network of stand alone information systems. The national information systems of individual countries can be linked to DAD-IS network directly or, through regional (the regions, according to FAO definition, are Africa, Asia and Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Near East, and North America) information systems; till now this is only the case of Europe. The network facilitates the coordination of country, regional and global efforts in AnGR management, while at the same time allowing great scope for national or regional specificities in the management and dissemination of information (CitationScherf et al., 2008).
According to FAO, the objectives of DAD-IS and the global network as a whole are (http://dad.fao.org/): to involve, coordinate and assist governments, international agencies, NGOs, training and research groups throughout the world; and help to achieve better management of all AnGR used for the production of food and agriculture in all countries, in accordance with the World Food Summit Plan of Action (CitationFAO, 1996), the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources (CitationFAO, 2007a), and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (www.biodiv.org).
The European Federation for Animal Science (EAAP, www.eaap.org) was one of the first organizations to develop a database, available on Internet, for describing and monitoring European livestock breeds (EAAP-AGDB - Animal Genetic Data Bank). Animal Genetic Resources Group of FAO developed a similar database for non-European countries, and through the European Farm Animal Biodiversity Information System (EFABIS) project, funded by European Union, the two existing information systems were merged and redeveloped in what now is DAD-IS database.
The implementation of the database is responsibility of the government-nominated National Focal Points (NFP) for the management of AnGR and DAD-IS provides NFP with a secure means to control the entry, updating and accessing of their national data. The Italian NFP (ItNFP) for AnGR was set up, organized and implemented by Prof. Donato Matassino and by CONSDABI (CitationMatassino et al., 1993; CitationMatassino, 2007). Also the data of Italian AnGR (ItAnGR) in the DAD-IS database is due to the constant and passionate work of Prof. Matassino and his collaborators.
ItNFP participates to the European Regional Focal Point (ERFP, http://www.rfp-europe.org/) for AnGR. The ERFP is the European platform, which supports the in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable use of animal genetic resources and facilitates the implementation of FAO’s Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources in Europe (CitationFAO, 2007a).
The ItNFP national information system does not implement directly the DAD-IS database but, like many other European Countries, is connected through the regional EFABIS (http://efabis.tzv.fal.de). EFABIS includes additional data field that are not included in DADIS, such as those referring to in vitro conservation and to cultural value of AnGR.
Moreover EFABIS has developed, with the financial support of European Union, the new PED (Production Environment Description) module, which is now being implemented by FAO in DAD-IS. The PED module implementation require that NFP delineate breeds’ geographical distributions, so that it can be linked to digitized maps (physical, petrologic, climatic and vegetation attributes) and enter details of the production environment that are not available through digitized maps (management, market and economical environment of a given breed). The implementation and updating of a dataset of national AnGR is a prerequisite for the adoption of the National Plan of Action for AnGR (CitationFAO, 2009b), as required by the approval, also by Italian Government, of the Global Plan of Action for AnGR (CitationFAO, 2007a,Citationb). The Plan of Action is based on 23 Strategic Priorities for Action that are grouped into four priority areas: i) characterization, inventory and monitoring of trends associated risks; ii) sustainable use and development; iii) conservation; and iv) policies, institutions and capacity building (CitationFAO, 2007a). It is clear that a national database, within DAD-IS, is an important part of the first priority area and that it is a basic tool for the second and third (CitationHoffmann and Scherf, 2010). Objective of this paper is to analyze the Italian contribution to the DAD-IS database of FAO through the implemented breed data sheets of ItAnGR.
Italian Animal Genetic Resources implemented in DAD-IS database
The database is available on Internet and is organized in a breed data sheet for each AnGR considered. The breed data sheet is based on the following 17 sections: breed names; breed local names; images; origin and development; uses; breed qualities information; breed colors; breed morphology information; breed horns information; breed performance information; population data; organization monitoring breed; in vivo programs; cryo programs; publications; breed reproduction information; breed milk information (hair and wool for fiber species, eggs for avian species) and contacts. Some information referring to ItAnGR data sheets included in the database were obtained (the 6th and 7th of December 2010) through appropriate queries (breeds by species by country; status of report by country; cross table generator; breed data sheet; early warning tool; population structure and inbreeding) and analyzed with the objective of having an outlook of Italian situation. For comparison, also some data referring to major Countries, to whole Europe and to the World were recovered. The DAD-IS database is growing in size and at the end of 2010 reached 13,463 breed data sheets (including also the transboundary breeds, the breeds present in two or more countries). About half of the data sheets are referring to ruminant species, one fourth to mammalian monogastrics, one fourth to poultry and a small proportion of the total to camelids, game and other birds and ratites. China is the country with the highest number of breed data sheets in the DAD-IS database (663, ) United Kingdom is the second (564 populations) and France the third (493). Italy is the seventh country with 299 breed data sheets, but excluding transboundary breeds it became the third with 263 local breeds. The other European countries, with more than 200 breeds registered are: Germany, Russia, The Netherlands, Ukraine and Spain. In the other continents, after China, there are Australia, Brazil, India, United States, South Africa and Indonesia. It should be considered that the high number of breeds of United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Brazil, United States and South Africa is due mainly to transboundary breeds and not to local breeds. The first place of China is especially due to the high number of pig (150) and chicken (110) populations, which are the basic animal food for Chinese cuisines (), and the same species are the most important also in Indonesia. The other important Asian Country, India, presents a lot of ruminants breeds: the importance of cows in rural India is well known. Among the African countries, South Africa presents a high number of ruminant breeds in the database, followed by Ethiopia and Mali, but African farm animal biodiversity is probably difficult to be classified in breeds and has still to be descripted and registered in large proportion.
Table 1 Number of breed data sheets of the major countries and their most represented species in the DAD-IS database.
America and Oceania are characterized by a lower level of registered breeds, as the majority of farm animals present belongs to international transboundary breeds of European, Asian and African origins and their crossings. The different proportion of the farm animal species represented in DAD-IS database reflects differences in primary systems (agriculture vs pastoralism), in traditional cuisines, in climates and also in history, culture and religion. But it reflects also differences in the criteria adopted by different FAO NFP, and especially between who, like Italy, privileges the inclusion of autochthonous breeds of animals reared for agriculture and pastoralism strictu sensu and who consider all the populations present in the Country, included those that nowadays are reared mainly as ornamental, pets or sport animals. It seems obvious that any comparison among different countries or regions should be very cautious, taking into account these factors.
As stated before, ItAnGR reported in DAD-IS database are represented for about two thirds by ruminants and one third by mammalian monogastrics (), while avian species are almost absent. In details, shows that Italian buffaloes are not yet registered in DAD-IS database, even if they represent the most important buffalo population respect to the other 16 populations registered in the other European Countries. Also the other two minor ruminant species, yak and deer, are not registered for Italy despite the fact that both are present, even if in a reduced number of farms. For cattle, sheep and goat, on the contrary, the number of Italian registered populations is high, representing about 6, 7 and 16 % of European breed data sheets, respectively. The lists of registered ItAnGR of these species are reported in , and . Also regarding the main mammalian monogastric species, the number of registered ItAnGR is high () for horse, pig and ass, representing respectively about 5, 9 and, even, 28% of European populations of these species. The lists of registered monogastric ItAnGR are reported in , and . Even in the case of mammalian monogastrics, the Italian populations of the minor species are not registered, despite the importance in our agriculture as food source (rabbits) or the use as working animals (shepherd and hunter dogs), while guinea pigs are not used as food animals like in some South American Countries. Also camelids are not registered for Italy, even if the number of Alpaca herds is slowly growing.
Table 2 Animal genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO, sorted by category.
Table 3 Mammalian genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO, sorted by species.
Table 4 List of Italian cattle genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO.
Table 5 List of Italian sheep genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO.
Table 6 List of Italian goats genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO.
Table 7 List of Italian ass genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO.
Table 8 List of Italian horse genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO.
Table 9 List of Italian pig genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO.
shows clearly that the only Italian avian specie represented in FAO DAD-IS database is chicken, with a very low number of breeds (). Of the major Italian farm animal species, this is the only one heavily underrepresented in DAD-IS database and it is the most evident difference with the situation of Northern and Eastern European countries. Passing to minor avian species it is worth noting that ItAnGR includes also several breeds of the other poultry species like guinea fowl, turkey, duck, muscovy duck and goose not yet registered in DAD-IS. The game and other birds are much less important but still present in Italy: pigeon, quail, pheasant, partridge and also peacock, not swallow registered as agriculture animal only in Indonesia because of the use of their nests for soup production. Lastly even the ratites group of species is not registered for Italy even if ostriches are presents in several farms.
Table 10 Avian genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO, sorted by species.
Table 11 List of Italian chicken genetic resources described in the DAD-IS data-base of FAO.
In total, of the 35 animal species of agricultural interest registered in DAD-IS database, at least 29 are present in Italy, but those registered are only the 7 mayor species, one of which with only a small proportion of existing populations.
Organization and official recognition of Italian animal genetic resources
To have a better understanding of the condition of the different ItAnGR at national level, a comparison was made between the list of breeds included by ItNFP in the DAD-IS database of FAO and the lists of breeds officially recognized by Italian Government and whose responsibility was attributed to a breeders association, and /or undergoing official milk or meat recording. The ItAnGR were classified in 5 groups: the first is composed by breeds having an official Herd Book, a selection program and a specific Breeders Association; the second group is represented by breeds with a Pedigree Registry, a conservation program and a breeders association less specific; the third group is made by the ItAnGR having no national official recognition, but some local, provincial or regional organization or institution dealing with; the forth group represents extinct breeds; and, lastly, to the fifth group belong breeds not included in the previous ones. The Breeders Associations of the first two groups of ItAnGR have generally the responsibility to control and monitor the animals and supply the relevant data to the NFP. In the case of the third group of breeds the situation is much more variable and data are collected through different local organizations or institutions.
From data reported in , it can be seen that of the 61 Italian cattle breeds registered in DAD-IS database and listed in , 19 are classified as extinct, 19 have their own Herd Book organized by their specific ANA (National Association of the Breeders of the specific breed), 17 have a Pedigree Registry organized collectively by AIA (Italian Breeders Association, www.aia.it), six breeds present very incomplete data and do not have a clearly defined responsible organization or institution and need to be better evaluated. Of the 19 breeds with an officially recognized Herd Book, and thus actively selected, 6 beef and 7 dairy and dual purpose breeds are autochthonous, while 2 beef and 4 dairy and dual purpose breeds are of foreign origin. The breeds with the Pedigree registry are officially recognized and controlled, they are normally undergoing conservation plans, but they are not actively selected. Foreign breeds reared in Italy in a reduced number of farms that do not have an officially recognized Herd Book or Pedigree Registry have not been included in the database.
Table 12 Italian genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO, according to specie and type of registration available.
Of the 84 sheep breeds listed in , 17 have their own Herd Book and 38 have the Pedigree Registry (). Differently from cattle, in the case of sheep there is only one breeders association, ASSONAPA (National Association of Pastoralism, www.assonapa.com) that organizes all the Herd Books and Pedigree Registries of sheep breeds, as well as of the goat breeds (8 with Herd Book and 32 with Pedigree Registry). While 18 sheep and 1 goat () populations are classified as extinct, there are still 11 sheep and 13 goat populations in the DAD-IS database that are not officially recognized and 4 more populations controlled by ASSONAPA not yet included in the database. Moreover, no sheep and goat breeds of foreign origin, even if officially controlled for milk or meat production, are registered in the FAO database as transboundary breeds, with the exception of some sheep breeds reared in Alto Adige-Sud Tirol province and of Saanen and Camosciata goat breeds. This fact raises some concern because we do not have a complete overview of the AnGR present in the Country. Moreover we should also take into account that some proposed indicators of animal biodiversity are based on the ratio between native and non native populations present in a territory (CitationFAO, 2010g): it is evident that this kind of indicators will be biased if populations of foreign origin are not registered.
Concerning mammalian monogastrics, from it can be seen that 9 horse breeds, among those listed in , have their official Herd Book and breeders association, while 15 horse breeds and 7 ass breeds (), are controlled by AIA which organizes their Pedigree Registries. The extinct populations are 4 for ass and 2 for horse, while the populations not officially recognized by Italian Government are 4 and 7 for ass and horse. With only two exceptions, the equine breeds of foreign origin reared in Italy are not yet included in the database.
In the case of pig, the situation, from the organizational point of view, is similar to sheep and goat; i.e. only one breeders association, ANAS (National Breeders Association of Swine, www.anas.it), hold the Herd Books of 4 breeds, all of foreign origin and widely reared in Italy, and the Pedigree Registries of 6 autochthonous pig breeds and 3 foreign breeds. Moreover, still 10 native populations included in the database () have no official recognition (some of them are synonymous), and half of the total, are declared extinct.
For other minor mammalian species and for all avian species there are several breeders associations, sometime officially recognized, but no Herd Book or Official Registry approved by Italian Government. The only exceptions are buffalo and rabbit, both with breeders associations and recognized Herd Books.
Evaluation of data available and of level of risk of Italian animal genetic resources
The breed data sheets are not reporting all data required and sometime are reporting only few data, but the data sheet structure is very detailed, perhaps too. The average rate of completeness of Italian breed data sheets is 48%, which is very close to the average for all European countries (47%). More interesting is to focus on the availability and on the updating of population data. The knowledge of the numerical trend of population is essential for the evaluation of the risk of losing variability and of extinction of the AnGR, but also for the developments of new indicators of genetic diversity of domesticated animals (CitationFAO, 2010g). The availability and completeness of population data is important also for achieving some of the strategic goals defined by Aichi Biodiversity Targets for 2020 (CitationCBD, 2010). From it can be seen that the completeness of the population data for ItAnGR is good as about half of the breeds has an almost regular updating of data and only 30%, excluding the extinct breeds, has no or limited data available. The availability is quite high for ass, horse and goat breeds, average for cattle and sheep, poor for pigs and episodical for chicken breeds. This means that for much of the ItAnGR it is possible to estimate short time trends of the population and also the inbreeding coefficient. The frequency of updating depends mainly from the organization and collaborative aptitude of the association or institution (if it does exist) in charge of the monitoring of the breed; but, in any case, CONSD-ABI has done a heavy work to contact institutions and to collect the data.
Table 13 Italian genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO, according to availability of population data for the period 2001–2009.
From population data recorded in DAD-IS database it is possible to estimate the level of risk of AnGR (CitationFAO, 2010i; CitationPilling, 2010). The data of Italian populations are summarized in . As it can be easily seen, the situation is really worrying as more than one fifth of ItAnGR included in DAD-IS database are yet extinct. Moreover, one fifth of populations are in critical conditions, i.e. heavily at risk of extinction. Slightly less than one fifth of ItAnGR are endangered. Finally, slightly more than one third of ItAnGR are classified as not at risk. It should be considered that almost all the transboundary breeds are not at risk and that only slightly more than one fourth of Italian local breeds are in this category.
Table 14 Italian genetic resources described in the DAD-IS database of FAO, according to level of risk and specie.
Conclusions
Regarding ItAnGR included in DAD-IS database, the priority of work is to complete and update the existing almost 300 breed data sheets. Moreover it is necessary to integrate the database with several non-native breeds of the main species reared in the Country and add data on minor mammalian species - particularly buffaloes, rabbits and some dogs. In the field of avian species there is the necessity to create a completely new database as the few breeds registered (6 chicken breeds) represent a negligible part of the wide avian genetic resources reared in Italy. Beyond the existing structure, FAO is integrating the completely new PED (production environment description) module of the database that can become an important tool for a better knowledge and representation of the AnGR (CitationFAO, 2010e; CitationHoffmann, 2010), but that will require a lot of work to obtain the relevant data and to implement them for all breeds.
It is clear that such a heavy task requires cooperation among many passionate scientists and technicians and that the Italian Government, but also local governments, breeders associations, foundations and privates that, all together, are the stakeholder network of Italian AnGR (CitationFAO, 2010c). All these actors have the moral responsibility to implement and coordinate, with ItNFP, the activities finalized to reach such important objectives. This is the great problem of ItAnGR: there is a lack of programming, coordination and monitoring. The situation is also complicated by the fact that, beyond the role of national government, the politics for farm animal biodiversity are projected and implemented separately by the different regional governments. From the point of view of the conservation of ItAnGR, the really worrying situation of our autochthonous populations requires a rapid implementation of the National Plan of Action, with a strong coordination among all the actors of the Plan, but the National Plan of Action is still far from being approved. This fact is even more worrying, bearing in mind that all Countries will be soon called to show to the international community the first results obtained in comparison with those planned (CitationFAO, 2007a–Citationc; CitationFAO, 2010h). In particular it is important going on with the surveying activity (CitationTixier-Boichard et al, 2008; CitationFAO, 2010f,Citationh,Citationi) and with the characterization of ItAnGR at genetic/genomic (CitationFAO, 2010d), phenotypic (CitationFAO, 2010e), environmental and, also, cultural level (CitationGandini and Villa, 2003). For the ex situ conservation, the priority goes to the activation of a virtual cryobank (CitationFAO, 2010b; CitationDuchev et al., 2010) that manages all the information belonging to the different physical cryobanks existing in Italy (genetic centers, breeders associations, A.I. studs, research centers, etc) as outlined by CitationPizzi et al., 2009. For in situ conservation, the priority goes to an efficient and coordinated conservation activity (CitationNimbkar et al., 2008; CitationWoolliams et al., 2008; CitationFAO, 2010a), including the promotion of the ItAnGR and the valorization of their products, also for environmental protection, landscape preservation and tourism exploitation (CitationRege, 1999; CitationGandini et al., 2010; CitationLPP et al., 2010). The relationships between DAD-IS database and all activities involved in ItAnGR characterization, monitoring, conservation and valorization are very important. First of all because DAD-IS should give the information needed for establishing priorities and for correct projecting of specific actions. The second reason is that the information obtained through those actions should implement DAD-IS in a virtuous circular process. It is of fundamental importance that information raised in Italy on AnGR will not remain closed in some office or some library, but that become easily available, through DAD-IS, for the national and international communities. The availability of relevant and updated information is vital also for international reporting obligation and for collaboration with other countries. It is evident that ItAnGR cannot be saved only in terms of genes, within liquid nitrogen tanks, but exploiting the complex of economical, environmental and cultural values they represent, and this objective is obtainable only if their breeders will be preserved (CitationFAO, 2009a). For this reason a change in mentality by scientists, technicians and politicians is needed, with the abandon of a culture based merely on productivity and standardization of products. So, an efficient protection can be established only involving all the stakeholders with a from field to fork approach. This is a heavy task, that requires knowledge and coordination, but that should be accomplished, bearing in mind that biodiversity is life, biodiversity is our life.
Acknowledgements:
the author is indebted with Dafydd Pilling for the very useful advice in the preparation of the manuscript.
the author is Coordinator of the Italian National Focal Point FAO for Animal Genetic Resources.
Related Research Data
References
- Convention on Biological Diversity 2010 Decision no. X/2 The strategic plan for bio-diversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi biodiversity targets Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture Japan Available from: http://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-10/cop-10-dec-02-en.pdf
- DuchevZ GroeneveldE HenningM LichtenbergH 2010 CryoWEB, user's guide and reference manual. Applications in Biodiversity Informatics Institute of Farm Animal Genetics, Friedrich Loeffler Institute Neustadt, Germany Available from: ftp://ftp.tzv.fal.de/pub/cryoweb/doc/cryoweb_manual.pdf
- FAO 1996 Rome declaration on world food security and world food summit plan of action FAO Corporate Document Repository Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/w3613e/w3613e00.HTM
- FAO 2007a Global plan of action for animal genetic resources and the Interlaken declaration FAO Roma, Italy Available from: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a1404e/a1404e00.pdf
- FAO 2007b Report of the International Conference on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, Interlaken, Switzerland FAO Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/genetics/documents/Interlaken/Final_Report_en.pdf
- FAO 2007c The state of the world's animal genetic resources for food and agriculture FAO Corporate Document Repository Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a1250e/a1250e00.htm
- FAO 2009a Livestock keepers - guardians of biodiversity Animal Production and Health Paper No. 167 Roma, Italy Available from: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i1034e/i1034e.pdf
- FAO 2009b Preparation of national strategies and action plans for animal genetic resources FAO Animal Production and Health Guidelines No. 2 Roma, Italy Available from: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0770e/i0770e.pdf
- FAO 2010a Breeding strategies for sustainable management of animal genetic resources FAO Animal Production and Health Guidelines No. 3 Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1103e/i1103e.pdf
- FAO 2010b Draft guidelines for the cryocon-servation of animal genetic resources. Commission on genetic resources for food and agriculture Intergovernmental tech-nical working group on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, 6th session Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/021/am136e.pdf
- FAO 2010c Draft guidelines on developing the institutional framework for the management of animal genetic resources. Commission on genetic resources for food and agriculture Intergovernmental technical working group on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, 6th session Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/021/am137e.pdf
- FAO 2010d Draft guidelines on molecular genetic characterization. Commission on genetic resources for food and agriculture Intergovernmental technical working group on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, 6th session Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/021/am135e.pdf
- FAO 2010e Draft guidelines on phenotypic characterization. Commission on genetic resources for food and agriculture Intergovernmental technical working group on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, 6th session Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/021/am134e.pdf
- FAO 2010f Draft guidelines on surveying and monitoring of animal genetic resources. Commission on genetic resources for food and agriculture Intergovernmental technical working group on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, 6th session Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/021/am133e.pdf
- FAO 2010g Report of a workshop on indicators to measure trends in genetic diversity of domesticated animals Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/genetics/documents/ITWG_AnGR_6/indicator_report.pdf
- FAO 2010h Results of informal surveys on progress in country implementation of the Global plan of action for animal genetic resources. Commission on genetic resources for food and agriculture Intergovernmental technical working group on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, 6th session Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/021/am138e.pdf
- FAO 2010i Status and trends of animal genetic resources - 2010. Commission on genetic resources for food and agriculture Intergovernmental technical working group on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, 6th session Roma, Italy Available from: http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/genetics/docu-ments/ITWG_AnGR_6/CGRFA_WG_AnGR_6_10_inf_3.pdf
- GandiniG.C VillaE 2003 Analysis of the cultural value of local livestock breeds: a methodology J. Anim. Breed. Genet 120 1 11
- GandiniG AvonL Bothe-WilhelmusD BayE ColinetF. G ChoroszyZ DiazC DuclosD FernandezJ GenglerN Hoving-BolinkR KearneyF LiljaT Maki-TanilaA Martin-ColladoD Maurice-van EijndhovenM MusellaM PizziF SoiniK ToroM TurriF ViinalasH HiemstraS.J 2010 Motives and values in farming local cattle breeds in Europe: a survey on 15 breeds Animal Genetic Resources 47 45 58
- HoffmannI 2010 Climate change and the characterization breeding and conservation of animal genetic resources Anim. Genet 41 32 46
- HoffmannI ScherfB 2010 Implementing the Global plan of action for animal genetic resources Anim. Genet. Res 47 1 10
- LPP, LIFE Network, IUCN-WISP, FAO 2010 Adding value to livestock diversity - Marketing to promote local breeds and improve livelihoods FAO Animal Production and Health Paper. No. 168 Roma, Italy
- MatassinoD 2007 Il ruolo del National Focal Point 1 13 Proc. Conf. on the Suino Nero Siciliano, 6th Int. Symp on Mediterranean Pig Messina, Italy
- MatassinoD CapuccioA GrassoF PalazzoM 1993 Conservation of animal germoplasm at risk of extinction in Italy: the centre for the defense of animal genetic resources of Circello Anim. Genet. Res 12 25 44
- NimbkarC GibsonJ OkeyoM BoettcherP SoelknerJ 2008 Sustainable use and genetic improvement Anim. Genet. Res 42 49 69
- PillingD 2010 Threats to animal genetic resources for food and agriculture - approaches to recording, description, classification and analysis Anim. Genet. Res 47 11 22
- PizziF TurriF GliozziT SandionigiM.L GandiniG 2009 Building the Cryobank of Lombardia Farm Animal Genetic Resources: preliminary results 125 128 Proc. 44th Int. Symp. Animal Production Milano, Italy
- RegeJ.E.O 1999 Economic valuation of animal genetic resources Proc. FAO/ILRI Workshop FAO Publ. Roma, Italy
- ScherfB InamuraM WieczorekM 2008 Domestic animal diversity information system - a clearing house mechanism. Mainstreaming Biodiversity Issues into Forestry and Agriculture Proc. 13th Meet. of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice Roma, Italy CBD Technical Series 34 91 93
- Tixier-BoichardM AyalewW JianlinH 2008 Inventory, characterization and monitoring Anim. Genet. Res 42 29 47
- WoolliamsJ.A MatikaO PattisonJ 2008 Conservation of animal genetic resources: approaches and technologies for in situ and ex situ conservation Anim. Genet. Res 42 71 89