Genetics of the rabbit for meat production: what's new since the World Rabbit Congress Held in Budapest in 1988? A review.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review sorne new results about genetics of the rabbit for meat production. We examine 4 key issues: (i) domestication of the rabbit took place few hundred years ago; European Community has just approved a program of characterisation and evaluation of genetic resources. (ii) Selection for litter size is effective, as selection for post weaning growth; genetic progress are around 0.05-0.1 O rabbit per litter and per generation, and 25-40 g. of slaughter weight per generation. (iii) Selection of strains and crossbreeding between these strains could increase the litter weight at slaughter age of more than 40% in relation to the production of a pure breed. Evolution of technical results of French rabbit farms are consistent with these estimations. (iv) Remarkable progress have recently been made in molecular analysis of the existing genetic variation within animal species. The priority is the development of a low-resolution map for the rabbit.