Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources A Plan for Canada

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Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources A
Plan for Canada
International Conference on Livestock
Services Beijing, China April 16-22, 2006 Dr.
Brian Freeze
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Canadian Agriculture

• 75 million hectares of farmland
• 36 million hectares forage and grazing land
• Cattle, Swine, Dairy, Poultry, Milk, Eggs account
  for 55 of Net Farm Cash Receipts of 32 billion
• Some sheep, and game farming of elk, bison,
  caribou, muskox

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Breeds of Farm Animals in Canada

• Dairy 95 are Holstein
• Beef 4 breeds Angus, Hereford, Charolais and
  Simmental 90 of market
• Swine Yorkshire, Landrace and Duroc in pure or
  crossbreeding programs
• Poultry strain crosses
• Few unique Canadian breeds

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Main Species
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Conservation Efforts in Canada

• Universities some poultry lines, quail but not
  mammal lines
• Museums some Heritage breeds
• Rare Breeds Canada database on minority breeds
  of farm animals (www.rarebreedscanada.ca)
• Canadian Farm Animal Genetic Resources Foundation
  (www.cfagrf.com)
• Artificial Insemination centres store bull semen

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A Plan for Canada

• The decline of animal genetic diversity has
  become a troubling issue on the world stage.
  These concerns were flagged as early as 1992 at
  the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit.
• Realizing that the Canadian situation is
  consistent with this worldwide trend, efforts
  have been made to establish a process that acts
  to ensure the diversity of Canadas livestock
  animals and poultry.

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Canadian Animal Genetic Resource Centre (CAGRC)

• Business Plan developed in 2003 by
  multi-stakeholder committee led by Agriculture
  and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
• Established at the University of Saskatchewan at
  the AAFC Plant Gene Resources Centre by AAFC, and
  Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture
  of the University of Saskatchewan

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Genetic Resource Sites
47.5 FTEs
Plant Microbe Node
Animal
Lacombe
Summerland
Saskatoon
Charlottetown
Agassiz
Fredericton
Winnipeg
Lethbridge
Kentville
Ottawa
Lennoxville
Delhi
Harrow
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CAGRC Mission Objectives

• Evaluate and maintain farm animal genetic
  diversity to enhance Canadas competitiveness
• Develop optimal strategies for conservation using
  live animals, cyropreservation, breeding
  strategies, enhanced reproduction
• Develop new technology for cryopreservation of
  livestock and poultry germplasm

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CAGRC Capacity

• Cyrogenic storage
• Scientific Expertise
• Cryopreservation
• Cyrogenic and reproductive biology
• Embryology
• Endocrinology and reproduction
• Functional genomics
• Population genetics
• BioInfomatics

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CAGRC AAFC Resources

• AAFC staffing 3 positions
• Gamete / embryo biologist
• Cryobiologist
• Genetic Diversity scientist
• Technician inventory of cryo-preserved semen
  and embryo samples
• 1.5 million Start Up Lab equipment
• 750,000 Operating Funding per year

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CAGRC University Resources

• 2 scientists
• Laboratory and office space
• Equipment

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CAGRC Plans

• Inventory of all breeds in Canada
• Emergency rescue system
• Outreach programs
• Policy development regarding
• FAO Global strategy
• Liaison with industry, NGOs, Governments
• Criteria re International Conservation
• Research priorities

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Conclusion

• Key to success for conservation is involvement of
  industry, government, universities, NGOs and
  individuals
• CAGRC is an important first step in Canada

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