Genebanks as a Mechanism for Harnessing Animal Genetic Resources for Food Security

There are approximately 20 national genebanking efforts in developed and developing countries. Such efforts are relatively new and afford livestock industries with an opportunity to have ready access to a wide range of genetic variability which can be used to address issues such as selecting for disease resistance or altering genetic composition to better cope with environmental changes which in turn increase food security. In addition collaboration among genebanks offers opportunities to better quantify differences in genetic diversity and in some instances afford various states protection of their indigenous genetic resources. Using the US system as an example, the germplasm/tissue collection has been used to: regenerate research lines, add genetic variability into rare livestock breeds, explore altering cattle phenotypes to better cope with climate change, and serve as a backup of Jersey genetics from Jersey Island. The collection has also been used to evaluate genetic diversity among livestock populations from Kazakastan, Tunisia, and Brazil with US breeds. The US collection includes many animals born during a 50 year span of time giving potential users a broad range of within breed genetic variability to address an array of production or research needs. In addition, the costs associated with genebanking livestock populations has been shown to be a cost effective mechanism for providing genetic security which frees the public and private sector to use their resources more efficiently.