160 • Technologies To Maintain Biological Diversity 



try of origin and internationally needs to be 

 assessed. Experience with the prolific Finnish 

 Landrace and Booroola Merino sheep (31,36] 

 and with Sahiwal cattle (24,48) has shown that 

 local, specialized stocks can often have wide 

 utility outside their country of origin. Likewise, 

 comprehensive performance evaluations of 

 crosses of indigenous and imported breeds sug- 

 gest that local animals may make important 

 contributions to final performance of the cross- 

 breed (5). The use in West Africa of native cat- 

 tle resistant to trypanosomiasis (23) is an im- 

 portant example. To assess the contributions 

 of such breeds, objective information must be 

 available to potential users. In many cases, 

 some details exist but they are fragmented and 

 difficult to locate and gain access to. In other 

 cases, only anecdotal information is available. 



Considerable international awareness of the 

 need for such assessments exists. Efforts to at 

 least list and broadly categorize breed resources 

 have been initiated in Europe (30), Latin Amer- 

 ica (13), and Eastern Asia and Oceania (41). 

 These efforts have been coordinated by the 

 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of 

 the United Nations (14). Efforts in most of the 

 developing countries have, however, been ham- 

 pered by insufficient funding to develop elec- 

 tronic databases and library reference facilities. 

 On balance, efforts to date deserve credit and 

 have achieved some successes but are still in- 

 sufficient. 



No comparable assessment of breed re- 

 sources has been undertaken for North Amer- 

 ica yet, so commissioning one would indicate 

 support for efforts elsewhere and represent a 

 minimal contribution by North American coun- 

 tries to a global accounting. The assessment 

 could be coordinated by the National Academy 

 of Sciences (NAS) or the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture (USDA) with technical support 

 from relevant professional societies (American 

 Society of Animal Science, American Dairy Sci- 

 ence Association, Poultry Science Association, 

 and Canadian Society of Animal Science) and 

 private agencies (e.g., American Minor Breeds 

 Conservancy). A recently initiated NAS project 

 on global genetic resources could address do- 



mestic animal genetic resources and develop 

 options for improving the present efforts. 



Limited additional financial and technical 

 support for development of databases and li- 

 brary reference facilities in existing foreign 

 centers could be provided (14). In many cases, 

 funds for microcomputers, software, and refer- 

 ence materials could provide a major improve- 

 ment in the capabilities of existing institutions 

 at limited cost. Necessary funds and consult- 

 ing personnel could be channeled through 

 USDA, FAO, or the U.S. Agency for Interna- 

 tional Development (AID). 



Another approach could be the development 

 of an international center for animal genetic 

 resources that would be charged with mainte- 

 nance of a comprehensive base of information 

 on domestic animal germplasm resources. The 

 center could maintain and update files on the 

 status, trends, and characteristics of domestic 

 breeds worldwide and provide information to 

 potential users of this germplasm. Charges 

 would be made to clients requesting informa- 

 tion, but to function properly, considerable pub- 

 lic subsidization would probably be required. 

 The center could be a branch of USDA or a part 

 of the National Agricultural Library. This plan 

 has the potential disadvantage of moving re- 

 sponsibility for maintenance of the necessary 

 databases out of national and regional institu- \ 

 tions, or at least deemphasizing the roles of such 

 institutions. Such an approach would tend to 

 reduce the emphasis on breed evaluation and 

 preservation at the grassroots level in the coun- 

 tries of origin. 



Major new funding to support breed evalua- 

 tion and characterization efforts could be pro- 

 vided. Even though considerable information 

 already exists on many foreign breeds, the ma- 

 terial is often fragmented and limited to only 

 descriptive characteristics. The initiation and 

 support of several major projects to objectively 

 evaluate and compare indigenous breeds to po- 

 tential imported breeds for the full array of 

 productive traits in the country or region of ori- 

 gin would be a tremendous asset in terms of 

 knowledge of global genetic resources. Fund- 

 ing could be channeled through USDA or AID. 



