Gene pool fishing by out-crossing and back-crossing cycles to accelerate genetic improvement in carcass traits of sheep

Abstract

<p><b>Application</b> The enormous potential of outcrossing and composite breeding is currently mostly unused in the UK sheep industry, largely due to the shackles of breeding society rules. However, its exploitation could have a large impact on the economy of the UK sheep industry, as it brings the best of breeds together, increases genetic variance and heterozygosity and thereby accelerates genetic progress. This project is a blueprint and a cost-efficient demonstration for employing genetic progress made in other breeds to further enhance the performance of a developed terminal sire breed on a reasonable budget.</p>