Genetic Cryopreservation of Rare Breeds of Domesticated North American Livestock: Smithsonian & SVF Biodiversity Preservation Project

Modern agriculture has responded to the growing pressure for animal-protein consumption in the global human population by selecting for specific production traits, which, over the last fifty years, has resulted in a loss of genetic diversity. Most rare and endangered breeds of livestock have not experienced the same selection pressures for production and therefore may contain useful genetic traits not found within modern breeds. In an effort to...