A study on closed breeding of Hanwoo for preservation and genetic diversity

Hanwoo is Korean native beef cattle which contains high-marbled meat. To maintain genetic diversity and preserve the breed of Hanwoo, the Hanwoo research institute of the National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) has been conducting research on the formation of Selection line (SI) using their own sires and 300 cows for 15 years. As a results, principal component analysis (PCA) of the group using Korean proven bull semen and the SI group showed genetic differences explained by 1.39% and 1.23% variance, although complete differentiation was not achieved. However, due to differences in group size and selection intensity, the genetic improvement rate was somewhat lower. By understanding the characteristics of this herd and continuing related research to form a group with differentiated breeding objectives, it is expected that in the future, the creation of specialized herd with genetic diversity will contributed to the preservation of the Hanwoo breed.