INBREEDING IN THE ITALIAN HAFLINGER HORSE

We analysed inbreeding and coancestry in the registered Italian Haflinger horse. Average inbreeding from 1.21 % of 1925-33 increased to 6.59 % in 1979-87. The presence of centres that own stallions that are distributed over the district of their jurisdiction during the mating season results in clusters of genetic correlations and deviation from panmixia. Current inbreeding within districts is low and often we observe avoidance of consanguineous mating. The high observed reproductive heterogeneity, in particular among males, suggests the use of Ne equations that do not assume Poisson distributed fertility. Height at wither and girth, measured on 4,736 horses, decreased significantly (P < 0.001) of respectively 1.1 and 2.9 cm with 10 % increases in the inbreeding coefficient.