Inbreeding and genetic diversity in local and indigenous livestock breeds

Local and indigenous livestock breeds are essential reservoirs of genetic diversity, adaptive potential, cultural heritage, and locally relevant production traits. However, many populations are threatened by declining effective population sizes, inbreeding, genetic erosion, unplanned crossbreeding, replacement by highly selected commercial breeds, and changing production systems. These pressures raise important questions about how inbreeding affects fertility, health, survival, welfare, productivity, and resilience, and how conservation programmes can balance genetic preservation with sustainable utilization. Recent advances in genomics, molecular population genetics, reproductive technologies, and computational pedigree analysis have improved the assessment of genetic diversity, population structure, demographic history, and runs of homozygosity. Nevertheless, genetic data remain unevenly available across breeds and regions, while the integration of genomic evidence into breeding programmes, gene banks, policy, and community-led conservation remains limited. Further investigation is needed to develop practical, locally appropriate strategies that preserve adaptive variation and support the long-term viability of these populations.This Research Topic will cover genetic characterization, conservation, management, and sustainable utilization of local and indigenous livestock breeds, with emphasis on population-level studies and practical applications. Because the erosion of genetic diversity directly threatens the resilience and productivity of livestock systems that underpin food security and rural livelihoods, this Research Topic places particular emphasis on connecting genetic conservation research to practical production outcomes.Research may address diverse livestock species and production systems, while studies focused exclusively on commercial breeds without a clear conservation or local-breed context are outside its scope. To gather further insights, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Inbreeding depression and its effects on fertility, health, fitness, welfare, survival, productivity, and resilience• Genomic, molecular, and pedigree-based assessment of genetic diversity and inbreeding• Runs of homozygosity, effective population size, genetic distance, and population structure• Demographic history, phylogeography, migration, admixture, and evolutionary relationships among local breeds• Adaptive genetic variation and genomic signatures associated with climate, disease, nutrition, and environmental stress• Genetic management of small and fragmented populations, including mating strategies and avoidance of inbreeding Topic editors: Supriya Chhotaray, VIKAS VOHRA Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84819/inbreeding-and-genetic-diversity-in-local-and-indigenous-livestock-breeds