Institutional and legal framework for ex situ conservation at national level,

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1 Institutional and legal framework for ex situ conservation at national level, Norway Photo: Anna Rehnberg Workshop of the ERFP Working Group Ex Situ Conservations May 2012 Hotel Allegra Zagreb Croatia Nina Sæther, PhD Director of Norwegian Genetic Resources Centre

2 Facts about Norway Tromsø Photo: Kjersti Kløften > 5 mill inhabitants > 304, 802 sq km land area > 16,4 person/sq km Trondheim > Lots of mountains > Plenty of grasslands > Hardly any arable land (3 %) Bergen > Farming and forestry of small importance (0.7 %) for GNP Oslo

3 Trends in animal production : > bigger herds > stable population sizes > higher production = farmers and animals produce more National herd size 1999 National herd size 2010 Dairy cows Dairy goats Sheep (meat) Breeding pigs Laying hens

4 Commercial farm animal breeds in Norway Mainly native breeds: > Dairy cattle: Norwegian Red (97% of the market) > Beef cattle: imported breeds, cross breed > Pigs: Norwegian Landrace and Norwegian Duroc > Sheep: Norwegian White Sheep > Dairy goats: Norwegian Dairy Goat > Poultry: imported breeds, mainly Lohmann

5 AI-service for farm animals > Three Norwegian AI-service companies > Cattle: GENO > Pigs: NORSVIN > Sheep and goats: NSG Semin A/S > Co-operatives, owned by the farmers

6 History of cryo gene banks in Norway General comment: Occasional storage for long term perspective started when AI-service of frozen semen was introduced ( ) Bulls: Since 1985, one hundred semen doses have been taken from all progeny-tested bulls of Norwegian Red and for all bulls from the native endangered breeds (six breeds) for long-term storage. Some doses from 1960 s.

7 History of cryo gene banks in Norway Boars Since appr. 1990: some semen doses of the best elite AI boars have been frozen for long-term storage. Since 1998: 20 semen doses from each elite boar have been routinely frozen for long-term storage.

8 History of cryo gene banks in Norway Rams Since early 1980s collection of 100 semen doses from each ram for long term storage, independent of breed. Bucks Since 1977, semen doses from the four to seven best progeny tested bucks have been put into long term storage banks. The oldest frozen semen doses are from bucks born in 1970.

9 Objectives for cryo preservation > Semen available for breeding today > Commercial breeds: > Progeny testing > Equal access for all farmers to top breeding animals > A tool to reduce sale of live animals (sheep and goats) > Long term storage > Endangered breeds: > Sufficient amount (not defined) of sires in the gene bank to avoid inbreeding in the breeding program

10 Status 2012, cryo bank native cattle breeds: Native Cattle Number of AI- Number of stored semen Breed bulls dozes Døla Telemark Western Red Polled Western Fjord Eastern RedPolled STN Not endangered: NRF * *long term storage of 100 dozes pr bull.

11 Native Sheep Breed Number of AIrams Number of dozes for purchase Number of dozes for long term storage (appr 50 dozes/ram) Norwegian White Sheep (NKS) * White short tailed (spæl) * Sjeviot * pelt dala rygja steigar blæset fuglestadbrogete old norse Old short tailed (spæl) grey trønder *Not endangered

12 Recruiting new sires Native commercial breeds > Breeding associations decide which sires to buy for AI-service based on > Breeding index > Relationship index (bulls and boars) Photo: Kjersti Kløften

13 Recruiting new sires Native endangered breeds (bulls, rams and bucks) > Choosing sires: > The breed s society, AI-service company and the Genetic Resources Centre make a jointly decision; one-three sires per year and per breed. > Based on pedigree, relationship to the population, breed characteristics, mother s production > Covering the costs: > GENO (bulls) covers all the costs (buying the bull, collecting semen, processing, freezing and storage). > NSG semin (rams and bucks) covers all the costs for breeds selling more than 200 dozes of semen per year, for the breeds selling less: Norwegian Genetic Resources Centre covers appr 2000 EURO per sire.

14 Ownership and access, native commercial breeds > The cryo preserved genetic material is owned by the co-operative breeding associations.

15 Ownership and access, native endangered breeds > The breeding associations own the frozen semen (NOT the Genetic Resource Centre!) > Anyone can buy from the gene banks for purchase storage of frozen semen. > Same distribution channels as for the commercial breeds. > Appr. the same prices. > No written agreement/guidelines on when the long term storage can be sold. > In practice: The semen from the long term storage is only sold/used when the breeding association has consulted the Genetic Resource Centre or the Committee on AnGR.

16 Documentation All breeds > pedigree information is available in the breeding associations pedigree databases. > This might be insufficient for the first/oldest samples stored decades ago, especially for the endangered breeds. For the native commercial breeds > Breeding and relationship values are available.

17 Security and sanitary arrangements Security > The three Norwegian AI-service companies (GENO, NORSVIN and NSG Semin A/S) have duplicates of the cryo gene banks, stored at two different places. Sanitary arrangements > All the cryopreservation gene banks in Norway fulfil the EU regulation requirements for sanitary issues.

18 Thank you! Photo: Anna Rehnberg