RBST TAKE ACTION TO CONSERVE NATIVE SHEEP GENETICS

RBST have announced they will take over the responsibility of the National Scrapie Plan (NSP) sheep semen archive, along with the National Sheep Association (NSA), following the transfer of ownership from Defra.

 The RBST has considerable experience of managing valuable genetics resources having collected cattle semen for 30 years. In 2002 it created the RBST National Gene Bank, following the Foot and Mouth epidemic, for the conservation of rare breeds. With RBST recently widening its responsibilities to include the conservation of all native breeds the NSP archive, containing semen from 75 breeds of UK native and non-native sheep, will play a vital role in helping to re-establish breeds if disaster should strike.

 The NSP semen archive was set up in 2004 with the specific aim of collecting scrapie susceptible genes that were being selectively bred out of the national sheep flock under the NSP. The archive was to save any ‘lost’ genotypes which could be re-instated into a breed if the need ever arose. Earlier this year Defra announced its plans to relinquish the NSP archive and to offer it to the agricultural industry. 

 Work now gets underway to streamline the 540,000 straws contained in the archive so that the important genetic material is identified and safely stored. RBST will also be using some of the material to progress its scientific genetic research with academic organisations.

 Several levy boards have come forward with funds to help rationalise the NSP archive. RBST would also welcome interest from organisations or individuals who would like to help fund the work of the RBST National Gene Bank.

Richard Clarke, RBST Chief Executive, said “The acquisition and management of the archive complements the work already undertaken by RBST in the conservation of native breed genetic diversity”