Study of the population structure in Schnauzer dogs

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the population structure of a Schnauzer dogs kennel. Pedigree data of 129 dogs were collected from a kennel in Southern Brazil. Dogs were divided into groups by height (“miniature”, “standard”, and “giant”) and subsequently, into coat color subgroups (“not informed”, “salt and pepper”, “black”, “white”, and “black and silver”). Population parameters were estimated using the Contribution, Inbreeding, Coancestry (CFC), and RelaX2 programs. Three ancestral generations were traced from the kennel dogs, totaling 685 unique individuals. Of these, 42% were considered founders. The analysis of the effective number of founders, number of effective ancestors, and inbreeding coefficient means were77, 44.9, and 0.08 for the miniature group, 26, 11.7 and 0.05for the standard group, and 28, 9.9 and 0.12 for the giant group, respectively. The subgroup “salt and pepper” in the “giant” group showed the highest inbreeding coefficient (0.14) and the highest kinship coefficient (0.20). Monitoring inbreeding allows to control upcoming breeding to acquire desirable characteristics in the population minimizing risk of deleterious effects.