AAB Archives Animal Breeding AAB Arch. Anim. Breed. 2363-9822 FBN Dummerstorf Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/aab-47-377-2004 A statistical analysis of population variability in Bronze Turkey considering gene conservation Szőke S. 1 Komlósi I. 2 Korom E. 3 Ispány M. 4 Mihók S. 2 University of Debrecen, Centre of Agricultural Sciences, Dept. of Statistics, Debrecen, Pf. 36., 4015, Hungary University of Debrecen, Centre of Agricultural Sciences, Dept. of Animal Husbandry, Breeding and Nutrition, Debrecen, Pf. 36., 4015, Hungary Agricultural and Biotechnological Research Centre, Institute of Animal Biology, Gödöllő Szent-Györgyi Albert, u.4., 2100, Hungary University of Debrecen, Institute of Informatics, Dept. of Applied Mathematics and Probability, Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1., 4001, Hungary 10 10 2004 47 4 377 385 Copyright: © 2004 S. Szőke et al. 2004 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is available from https://aab.copernicus.org/articles/47/377/2004/aab-47-377-2004.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://aab.copernicus.org/articles/47/377/2004/aab-47-377-2004.pdf

Genetic variability is very important in small populations. We examined an indigenous Bronze Turkey population which is bred for gene conservation in order to see if the current mating system maintains genetic variability. The present generation was surveyed using microsatellite markers and a computer model was used to simulate changes in the population over 100 generations. The data was analysed using the concept of entrophy from information theory instead of genetic variance so that we could measure genetic variability more accurately. The results indicate that the breeding method currently in use, rotational line mating, is acceptable with respect to preserving genetic variability, but new selection methods may provide additional protection against the loss of alleles.