Applied to Livestock Production Conservation of Animal Genetic Resources : the Next Decade

After 20 years, progress has been made in conserving animal genetic resources; but how it will be in ten years? Viewing gene banks and in situ conservation in the context of food security, climate change, and product demand suggest a more efficient use of these practices to support sustainable production. Gene banks should become be more dynamic, incorporate different biological materials and increase collection use. Accomplishments have been obtained for in vivo approaches but gaps are substantial and ex situ – in vivo conservation is costly. For cost effective conservation gene banks should be leveraged by in situ programs; this will require emphasis to be placed upon database development and accessibility. With effective databases in place it will be possible to better integrate these two conservation avenues and address future sectorial issues.