Use of different sources of information for the recovery and genetic management of endangered populations: example with the extreme case of Iberian pig Dorado strain

Recovery and management of an endangered population requires the use of all available tools. Besides the genealogical data (often scarce) molecular information should be used to refine the genetic relationships between individuals within the programme. Phenotypic information on a diagnostic trait could also be integrated as a management criterion, but this strategy could conflict with the objective of maintaining the highest levels of genetic diversity. In this study we used data from 19 individuals, founders of the recovery programme of the Iberian pig Dorado strain and genotyped for 19 microsatellites, to test the optimal way to combine all information (i.e. pedigree, molecular markers and values for a morphological index) and the consequences of each decision on the genetic structure of the population. Results show that it is possible to find equilibrium solutions where, for example, 43% of increase in the average levels of the trait of interest can be reached with just a 4% of loss in genetic diversity and almost no increase in the inbreeding coefficient.