![Drazet, a black feral cat](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Drazet%2C_a_black_feral_cat.jpg)
A landrace is a
domesticated
Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...
, locally adapted,
often traditional
variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through
adaptation to its natural and cultural
environment
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
of
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
and
pastoralism
Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as " livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The a ...
, and due to isolation from other populations of the species.
Landraces are distinct from
cultivars and from standard
breeds.
A significant proportion of farmers around the world grow landrace
crop
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydropon ...
s.
, and most plant landraces are associated with traditional agricultural systems.
Landraces of many crops have probably been grown for millennia.
Increasing reliance upon modern plant
cultivars that are bred to be uniform has led to a reduction in
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
,
because most of the
genetic diversity of domesticated plant species lies in landraces and other traditionally used varieties.
Some farmers using scientifically improved varieties also continue to raise landraces for agronomic reasons that include: better adaptation to the local environment, lower fertilizer requirements, lower cost, and better disease resistance. Cultural and market preferences for landraces include culinary uses and product attributes such as texture, color, or ease of use.
Plant landraces have been the subject of more academic research, and the majority of academic literature about landraces is focused on
agricultural botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
, not
animal husbandry. Animal landraces are distinct from ancestral wild species of modern animal stock, and are also distinct from separate species or subspecies derived from the same ancestor as modern domestic stock. Not all landraces derive from wild or ancient animal stock; in some cases, notably dogs and horses, domestic animals have escaped in sufficient numbers in an area to breed
feral
A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...
populations that form new landraces through
evolutionary pressure
Any cause that reduces or increases reproductive success in a portion of a population potentially exerts evolutionary pressure, selective pressure or selection pressure, driving natural selection. It is a quantitative description of the amount of ...
.
Characteristics
There are differences between authoritative sources on the specific criteria which describe landraces, although there is broad consensus about the existence and utility of the classification. Individual criteria may be weighted differently depending on a given source's focus (e.g., governmental
regulation
Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...
,
biological sciences
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
,
agribusiness,
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
and culture, environmental
conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...
,
pet
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence ...
keeping and breeding, etc.). Additionally, not all cultivars agreed to be landraces exhibit every characteristic of a landrace.
General features that characterize a landrace may include:
* It is
morphologically distinctive and identifiable (i.e., has particular and recognizable characteristics or properties),
yet remains "dynamic".
* It is genetically adapted to,
and has a reputation for being able to withstand,
the conditions of the local environment, including
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
,
disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
and
pests
PESTS was an anonymous American activist group formed in 1986 to critique racism, tokenism, and exclusion in the art world. PESTS produced newsletters, posters, and other print material highlighting examples of discrimination in gallery represent ...
, even
cultural practices.
* It is not the product of formal (governmental, organizational, or private)
breeding program
A breeding program is the planned breeding of a group of animals or plants, usually involving at least several individuals and extending over several generations. There are a couple of breeding methods, such as artificial (which is man made) and ...
s,
and may lack systematic selection, development and improvement by breeders.
* It is maintained and fostered less deliberately than a standardized breed, with its genetic isolation principally a matter of geography acting upon whatever animals that happened to be brought by humans to a given area.
* It has a historical origin in a specific geographic area,
will usually have its own local name(s),
and will often be classified according to intended purpose.
* Where yield (e.g. of a grain or fruit crop) can be measured, a landrace will show high stability of yield, even under adverse conditions, but a moderate yield , even under carefully managed conditions.
* At the level of
genetic testing, its heredity will show a degree of integrity,
but still some
genetic heterogeneity Genetic heterogeneity occurs through the production of single or similar phenotypes through different genetic mechanisms. There are two types of genetic heterogeneity: allelic heterogeneity, which occurs when a similar phenotype is produced by diffe ...
(i.e.
genetic diversity).
Terminology
''Landrace'' literally means 'country-breed' (German: ''Landrasse'')
[ Based on the ''Random House Dictionary''.] and close
cognates
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical eff ...
of it are found in various
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, E ...
. The first known reference to the role of landraces as genetic resources was made in 1890 at an agriculture and forestry congress in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. The term was first defined by Kurt von Rümker in 1908,
[ Abstract and first two pages are available for /link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1018683119237#page-1 free access] and more clearly described in 1909 by U. J. Mansholt, who wrote that landraces have more stable characteristics and better resistance to adverse conditions, but have lower production capacity than cultivars, and are apt to change genetically when moved to another environment.
H. Kiessling added in 1912 that a landrace is a mixture of phenotypic forms despite relative outward uniformity, and a great adaptability to its natural and human environment.
The word ''landrace'' entered non-academic English in the early 1930s, by way of the
Danish Landrace pig, a particular breed of lop-eared swine.
Many other languages do not use separate terms, like ''landrace'' and ''breed'', but instead rely on extended description to convey such distinctions. The FAO notes: "The distinction between breeds and ecotypes within breeds is not very objective, and generally involves cultural rather than genetic factors."
Geneticist D. Phillip Sponenberg described animal breeds as "consistent and predictable genetic entities" falling into several "classes": the landrace, the standardized breed, modern "type" breeds, industrial strains and feral populations. He describes landraces as an early stage of breed development, created by a combination of
founder effect, isolation and environmental pressures. Isolation prevents the further introduction of genetic material. Human selection for production goals is typical of most landraces.
The term ''breed'' itself has multiple definitions and uses, some of which may encompass the concept of landraces. For example, the FAO
Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) guideline provides a definition of "breed", for "genetic management" purposes, that overlaps with many definitions of ''landrace'', and defines "landrace (or landrace breed)" as a type of "breed".
Aside from some standardized animal breeds having "Landrace" in their names, actual landraces and standardized breeds are sometimes further confused when the word "breed" is used very broadly. As one example, a glossary in a
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
(FAO) guideline defines ''landrace'' or ''landrace breed'' (treated synonymously) as "a breed that has largely developed through adaptation to the natural environment and traditional production system in which it has been raised".
It also defines ''breed'' expansively and in multiple ways, with a focus on treating differing senses, landrace breed and standardized breed, as equivalent for "genetic management" purposes, the focus of the FAO guideline.
It does clearly distinguish between the two concepts, however, both with a distinct definition of "standardized breed"
and in the main body of the guideline, referring to the "interaction between landraces and standardized breeds"),
and that FAO document uses "breed" to mean "the unit of conservation, i.e. the specific population of animals that is to be conserved".
The term landrace breed is sometimes used in contrast to the term ''standardized breed''
In various domestic species (including pigs, goats, sheep and geese) some standardized breeds include "Landrace" in their names, and "Landrace breeds" (with capital "L") is sometimes used to refer to them collectively. but may be used more ambiguously to include actual landraces. Similar ambiguity may be encountered in the use of terms such as ancient breed, native breed (not to be confused with
native species
In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...
), old breed, and
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
breed. Farmers' variety, usually applied to local cultivars, or seen as intermediate between a landrace and a cultivar,
may also include landraces when referring to plant varieties not subjected to formal breeding programs.
Autochthonous and allochthonous landraces
A landrace native to, or produced for a long time within the agricultural system in which it is found is referred to as an ''
autochthonous landrace'', while a more recently introduced one is termed an ''
allochthonous landrace''.
Within academic
agronomy, the term ''autochthonous landrace'' is sometimes used with a more technical, productivity-related definition, synthesized by A. C. Zeven from previous definitions beginning with Mansholt's: "an autochthonous landrace is a variety with a high capacity to tolerate biotic and abiotic stress, resulting in a high yield stability and an intermediate yield level under a low input agricultural system."
The terms ''autochthonous'' and ''allochthonous'' are most often applied to plants, with animals more often being referred to as ''indigenous'' or ''native''.
Biodiversity and conservation
A significant proportion of farmers around the world grow landrace
crop
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydropon ...
s.
[ The copy at this URL is missing the author information but provides full text otherwise; that information is available in /journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1924236 this official online abstract] However, as industrialized agriculture spreads,
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
s, which are selectively bred for high yield, rapid growth, disease and drought resistance, and other commercial production values, are supplanting landraces, putting more and more of them at risk of
extinction
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
.
In 1927 at the International Agricultural Congress, organized by the predecessor of the FAO, an extensive discussion was held on the need to conserve landraces. A recommendation that members organize nation-by-nation landrace conservation did not succeed in leading to widespread conservation efforts.
Landraces are often free from many
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
and other regulatory encumbrances. However, in some jurisdictions, a focus on their production may result in missing out on some benefits afforded to producers of genetically selected and homogenous organisms, including breeders' rights legislation, easier availability of loans and other business services, even the right to share seed or stock with others, depending on how favorable the laws in the area are to high-yield agribusiness interests.
As Regine Andersen of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (Norway) and the Farmers' Rights Project puts it, "Agricultural biodiversity is being eroded. This trend is putting at risk the ability of future generations to feed themselves. In order to reverse the trend, new policies must be implemented worldwide. The irony of the matter is that the poorest farmers are the stewards of genetic diversity."
Protecting farmer interests and protecting biodiversity is at the heart of the
(the "Plant Treaty" for short), under the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
(FAO), though its concerns are not exclusively limited to landraces.
Specimens within an animal landrace tend to be genetically similar, though more diverse than members of a standardized or formal breed.
Some standardized animal breeds originate from attempts to make landraces more consistent through
selective breeding
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...
, and a landrace may become a more formal breed with the creation of a
breed registry
A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeder ...
or publication of a
breed standard
In animal husbandry or animal fancy, a breed standard is a description of the characteristics of a hypothetical or ideal example of a breed. The description may include physical or morphological detail, genetic criteria, or criteria of athletic ...
. In such a case, one may think of the landrace as a "stage" in breed development. However, in other cases, formalizing a landrace may result in the genetic resource of a landrace being lost through
crossbreeding
A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...
.
While many landrace animals are associated with farming, other domestic animals have been put to use as modes of transportation, as
companion animal
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...
s, for sporting purposes, and for other non-farming uses, so their geographic distribution may differ. For example, horse landraces are less common because human use of them for transport has meant that they have moved with people more commonly and constantly than most other domestic animals, reducing the incidence of populations locally genetically isolated for extensive periods of time.
Preserving cereal landraces
Preservation efforts for cereal strains are ongoing including ''
in situ
''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...
'' and in online-searchable
germplasm
Germplasm are living genetic resources such as seeds or tissues that are maintained for the purpose of animal and plant breeding, preservation, and other research uses. These resources may take the form of seed collections stored in seed banks, t ...
collections (
seed bank
A seed bank (also seed banks or seeds bank) stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease res ...
s), coordinated by
Biodiversity International and the
National Institute of Agricultural Botany
The National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) is a plant science research company based in Cambridge, UK.
The NIAB group
The NIAB group consists of:
* NIAB
* NIAB EMR - a horticultural and agricultural research institute at East M ...
(UK).
However, more may need to be done, because plant genetic variety, the source of crop health and seed quality, depends on a diversity of landraces and other traditionally used varieties.
Efforts () were mostly focused on
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
, the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
, and
European Russia, and dominated by species from mountainous areas.
Despite their incompleteness, these efforts have been described as "crucial in preventing the extinction of many of these local ecotypes".
An agricultural study published in 2008 showed that landrace
cereal crop
A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food en ...
s began to decline in Europe in the 19th century such that cereal landraces "have largely fallen out of use" in Europe.
Landrace cultivation in central and northwest Europe was almost eradicated by the early 20th century, due to economic pressure to grow improved, modern cultivars.
While many in the region are already extinct,
some have survived by being passed from generation to generation,
and have also been revived by enthusiasts outside Europe to preserve European agriculture and food culture elsewhere.
These survivals are usually for specific uses, such as
thatch
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
, and traditional
European cuisine and
craft beer brewing.
Plants
Examples
Beans:
* Caparrona bean
* Ganxet bean
Carrots:
* Yellow-purple Polignano
Rice:
*
Kalanamak rice
Squash:
* Cappello da prete
* Candy roaster
Tomatoes:
* Coeur de bue tomato
* Corborino tomato
* Lucariello tomato
*
San Marzano tomato
A San Marzano tomato is a variety of plum tomato.
Description
Compared to the Roma tomato, San Marzano tomatoes are thinner and more pointed. The flesh is much thicker with fewer seeds, and the taste is stronger, sweeter, and less acidic.
Th ...
Wheat:
* Arndeto
* Aybo
* Enat gebs
* Kurkure
* Loko
* Meher gebs
* Nechita
* Sene gebs
* Set-Akuri
* Mengesha
* Temej
* Tikur gebs
Development
The label ''landrace'' includes regional
cultigen
A cultigen () or cultivated plant is a plant that has been deliberately altered or selected by humans; it is the result of artificial selection. These plants, for the most part, have commercial value in horticulture, agriculture or forestry. Beca ...
s that are genetically
heterogeneous, but with enough characteristics in common to permit their recognition as a group. These characteristics are used by farmers to manage diversity and purity within landraces.
In some cultures, development of new landraces is typically limited to members of specific social groups, such as women or shaman. Maintaining existing landraces, like developing new landraces, requires that farmers be able to identify crop-specific characteristics and that those characteristics are passed on to following generations.
Over time, the process of identifying the distinguishing characteristic or characteristics of a new landrace is reinforced by cultivation processes; for example, descendants of a plant that is notably drought tolerant may become iteratively more so through selective breeding as farmers regard it as better for dry areas and prioritize planting it in those locations. This is one way in which farming systems can develop a portfolio of landraces over time that have specific ecological niches and uses.
Members of a landrace variety, selected for uniformity with regards to a unique feature over a period of time, can be developed into a farmers' variety or
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
. One example is ''Cajanus cajan'' 'Maruti' in the case of
pigeon pea
The pigeon pea (''Cajanus cajan'') is a perennial legume from the family Fabaceae native to the Old World. The pigeon pea is widely cultivated in tropical and semitropical regions around the world, being commonly consumed in South Asia, South ...
s.
Conversely, modern cultivars can also be developed into a landrace over time when farmers save seed and practice
selective breeding
Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...
.
Although landraces are often discussed once they have become endemic to a particular geographical region, landraces have always been moved over long and short distances. Some landraces can adapt to various environments, while others only thrive within specific conditions. Self-fertilizing and vegetatively populated species adapt by changing the frequencies of phenotypes. Outbreeding crops absorb new genotypes through intentional and unintentional hybridization, or through mutation.
Animals
Cats
There are various distinctive landraces of
domestic cat around the world, including the
Aegean,
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
,
domestic long-haired
A domestic long-haired cat is a cat of mixed ancestry – thus not belonging to any particular recognised cat breed – possessing a coat of semi-long to long fur. Domestic long-haired cats should not be confused with the British Longhair, ...
,
domestic short-haired
A domestic short-haired cat is a cat possessing a coat of short fur, not belonging to any particular recognised cat breed. In Britain they are sometimes colloquially called moggies. Domestic short-haired cats are distinct from the British Shorth ...
,
Kellas and
Sokoke
The Sokoke (or Sokoke Forest Cat in long form, and formerly the African Shorthair) is natural breed of domestic cat, developed and standardised, beginning in the late 1970s, from the feral ''khadzonzo'' landrace of eastern, coastal Kenya. The Sok ...
, among others. The
Van cat
The Van cat ( tr, Van kedisi; ; Eastern ; ku, pisîka Wanê, script=Latn, italic=yes) is a distinctive landrace of the domestic cat found in the Lake Van area of the Armenian Highlands in Turkey.
Van cats are relatively large, have a chal ...
of modern-day Turkey is a landrace of symbolic and (disputed) cultural value to Turks, Armenians and Kurds.
Many standardized breeds have rather recently (within a century or less) been derived from landraces. Examples, often called ''natural breeds'', include
Arabian Mau
The Arabian Mau is a formal breed of domestic cat, originated from the early African wildcat, a short-haired landrace native to the Arabian Peninsula. It lives in the streets of the Arabian Peninsula and has adapted very well to its extreme clima ...
,
Egyptian Mau
Egyptian Maus are a small to medium-sized short-haired cat breed. They are one of the few naturally spotted breeds of domesticated cat. The spots of the Mau occur on only the tips of the hairs of its coat. It is considered a rare breed.
Character ...
,
Korat
The Korat cat ( th, โคราช, มาเลศ, สีสวาด, ) is a silver-tipped blue-grey, short-haired breed of domestic cat with a small to medium build and a low percentage of body fat. Its body is semi-cobby, and unusually hea ...
,
Kurilian Bobtail
The Kurilian Bobtail is a cat breed (or breed group, depending on registry) originating from the (disputed) Russian Kuril Islands, as well as Sakhalin Island and the Kamchatka peninsula of Russia. Short- or long-haired, it has a semi-cobby b ...
,
Maine Coon
The Maine Coon is a large domesticated cat breed. It is one of the oldest natural breeds in North America. The breed originated in the U.S. state of Maine, where it is the official state cat.
The breed was popular in cat shows in the late 19t ...
,
Manx,
Norwegian Forest Cat,
Siberian, and
Thai (which is the landrace ancestor of modern Siamese cats), among many others.
In some cases, such as the
Turkish Angora
The Turkish Angora ( tr, Ankara kedisi, "Ankara cat") is a breed of domestic cat. Turkish Angoras are one of the ancient, natural breeds of cat, having originated in central Anatolia (modern-day Turkey, Ankara region). The breed has been document ...
and
Turkish Van
The Turkish Van (pronounced Von) is a naturally occurring breed of domestic cat that originated in the Lake Van area of modern-day Turkey, part of Armenian Highlands. The Van is classified as a semi-long hair, but it has two lengths of hair, ...
breeds and their possible derivation from the Van cat landrace, the relationships are not entirely clear.
Cattle
*
Yakutian cattle
Yakutian cattle, Саха ынаҕа (Saxa ınağa) in the Sakha language, are a cattle landrace bred north of the Arctic Circle in the Republic of Sakha. They are noted for their extreme hardiness and tolerance towards freezing temperatures.
Des ...
, a landrace from the
Sakha Republic, part of the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, noted as the northernmost landrace, and the most genetically dissimilar of all cattle.
This group of cattle may represent a fourth
Aurochs domestication event (and a third event among ''Bos taurus''–type aurochs) and may have diverged from the Near East group some 35,000 years ago.
Yakutian cattle are the last remaining native Turano-Mongolian cattle breed in
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
,
and one of only a few pure
Turano-Mongolian breeds remaining worldwide.
Studies of
autosomal
An autosome is any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome. The members of an autosome pair in a diploid cell have the same morphology, unlike those in allosomal (sex chromosome) pairs, which may have different structures. The DNA in autosom ...
DNA marker A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species. It can be described as a variation (which may arise due to mutation or alteration in the genomic loci) that can be ...
s show a high genetic distinctiveness and point to a long-term genetic isolation from other breeds; geographic isolation beyond the normal northern limit of the species range can be assumed to be the cause.
[Juha Kantanen (30 December 2009)]
″Article of the month – The Yakutian cattle: A cow of the permafrost.″
''GlobalDiv Newsletter'', 2009, issue no. 12, pp. 3–6. 1 picture. Retrieved 30 June 2013.[genomic-resources ENAC (14 August 2012)]
1 picture. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
*
Icelandic cattle
Icelandic cattle ( is, íslenskur nautgripur ) are a breed of cattle native to Iceland. Cattle were first brought to the island during the Settlement of Iceland a thousand years ago. Icelandic cows are an especially colorful breed with a wide va ...
, with a population dating from the era of
Icelandic settlement; they are likely the oldest landrace in Europe, owing to their genetic isolation for most of that time.
Other examples of landrace bovines include
Pineywoods,
Florida Cracker
Florida crackers were colonial-era British and American pioneer settlers in what is now the U.S. state of Florida; the term is also applied to their descendants, to the present day, and their subculture among white Southerners. The first cracke ...
,
Ankole-Watusi
The Ankole-Watusi is a modern American breed of domestic cattle. It derives from the Ankole group of Sanga cattle breeds of east and central Africa. It is characterized by very large horns.
History
The Ankole-Watusi derives from cattle ...
and
Randall cattle
The Randall Lineback or Randall is an American breed of cattle. It originated in Bennington County, Vermont, and is critically endangered.
History
The Randall derives from traditional linebacked or color-sided cattle once widespread in ...
.
Dogs
Dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...
landraces and the selectively bred
dog breed
A dog breed is a particular strain of dog that was purposefully bred by humans to perform specific tasks, such as herding, hunting, and guarding. Dogs are the most variable mammal on Earth, with artificial selection producing around 450 globall ...
s that follow
breed standards
In animal husbandry or animal fancy, a breed standard is a description of the characteristics of a hypothetical or ideal example of a breed. The description may include physical or morphological detail, genetic criteria, or criteria of athlet ...
vary widely depending on their origins and purpose.
Landraces in dogs are defined as "dog or any livestock animal has been bred without a formal registry, although their breeders may have kept written or informal pedigrees of their animals." These are distinguished from dog breeds which have breed standards, breed clubs and registries.
Landrace dogs have more variety in their appearance than do standardized dog breeds.
[ An example of a dog landrace with a related standardized breed with a similar name is the ]collie
Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Man ...
. The Scotch Collie is a landrace, while the Rough Collie
The Rough Collie (also known as the Long-Haired Collie) is a long-coated dog breed of medium to large size that, in its original form, was a type of collie used and bred for herding sheep in Scotland. More recent breeding has focused on the Co ...
and the Border Collie
The Border Collie is a Scottish breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, they are descended from landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but became standardised in the Ang ...
are standardized breeds. They can be very different in appearance, though the Rough Collie in particular was developed from the Scotch Collie by inbreeding to fix certain highly desired traits. In contrast to the landrace, in the various standardized Collie breeds, purebred
Purebreds are " cultivated varieties" of an animal species achieved through the process of selective breeding. When the lineage of a purebred animal is recorded, that animal is said to be "pedigreed". Purebreds breed true-to-type which means the ...
individuals closely match a breed-standard appearance but might have lost other useful characteristics and have developed undesirable traits linked to inbreeding. Similarly, the ancient landrace dogs of the Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent ( ar, الهلال الخصيب) is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, together with the northern region of Kuwait, southeastern region of ...
that led to the Saluki breed excels in running down game across open tracts of hot desert, but conformation-bred individuals of the breed might not be able to chase and catch desert hares.
The now extinct St. John's water dog, a landrace that was developed in Newfoundland, Canada, was the foundational stock for a number of purpose-bred dogs, such as the Labrador Retriever, Chesapeake Bay Retriever
The Chesapeake Bay Retriever is a large breed of dog belonging to the retriever, gundog, and sporting breed groups. The breed was developed in the United States Chesapeake Bay area during the 19th century. Historically used by local market hu ...
, Cape Shore Water Dog, and Newfoundland. Another example of a North American landrace, the Carolina Dog
The Carolina dog, also known as a yellow dog, yaller dog, American Dingo, or Dixie Dingo, is a breed of medium-sized dog occasionally found feral in Southeastern United States, especially in isolated stretches of longleaf pines and cypress s ...
or yellow dog, was developed from dogs originally from Asia; it has also been established now as a standardized breed.
Goats
* British primitive goat
The British primitive goat is a landrace of domestic goat native to Great Britain and Ireland, and is the original goat of the region. It is considered a rare breed, existing as several, isolated feral herds, as some captive populations in zoo ...
, a landrace dating to the Neolithic era
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
, and possibly existing as feral herds for that long
* Icelandic goat
The Icelandic goat ( is, íslenska geitin ), also known as the 'settlement goat', is an ancient breed of domestic goat believed to be of Norwegian origin and dating back to the settlement of Iceland over 1100 years ago. This breed of goat was on t ...
, a landrace which like many other animal breeds in Iceland, can be reliably dated to the Age of Settlement, a little over 1,000 years ago. The population is presumed to have been genetically isolated for nearly the entirety of that time period
* Spanish goat, the native landrace of Spain that survives in larger numbers in the American South as the "brush goat" or "scrub goat", among other names
Some standardized, selective breeds that are derived from landraces include the Dutch Landrace, Swedish Landrace and Finnish Landrace goats. The confusingly named Danish Landrace is a modern mix of three different breeds, one of which was a "Landrace"-named breed.
Sheep
* Shetland sheep
* Spælsau sheep, which dates to the Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...
* Welsh mountain sheep
* Barbados Blackbelly
* Icelandic sheep
Horses, ponies and donkeys
It is rare for landraces among domestic horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a Domestication, domesticated, odd-toed ungulate, one-toed, ungulate, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two Extant taxon, extant subspecies of wild horse, ''Equus fer ...
s to remain isolated, due to human use of horses for transportation, thus causing horses to move from one local population to another. Examples of horse landraces include isolated island populations such as the Newfoundland Pony
The Newfoundland pony is a horse breed, breed of pony originating in Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland, Canada. They are sturdy and muscular ponies, found in many equine coat color, colors, including the relatively rare white (horse), wh ...
, Shetland Pony
The Shetland pony is a Scottish breed of pony originating in the Shetland Isles in the north of Scotland. It may stand up to at the withers. It has a heavy coat and short legs, is strong for its size, and is used for riding, driving, and p ...
and Icelandic Horse, insular landraces in Greece and Indonesia, and, on a broader scale, New World populations derived from the founder stock of Colonial Spanish horse. The Yakutian and Mongolian Horse
The Mongol horse ( Mongolian Адуу, ''aduu'': "horse" or ''mori''; or as a herd, ''ado'') is the native horse breed of Mongolia. The breed is purported to be largely unchanged since the time of Genghis Khan. Nomads living in the traditio ...
s of Asia have "unimproved" characteristics. The heavy 'draft' type of domestic horse, developed in Europe, has itself differentiated into many separate landraces or breeds.
The wild progenitor of the domestic horse is now extinct. The Przewalski's horse
Przewalski's horse (, , (Пржевальский ), ) (''Equus ferus przewalskii'' or ''Equus przewalskii''), also called the takhi, Mongolian wild horse or Dzungarian horse, is a rare and endangered horse originally native to the steppes of ...
, ''Equus ferus przewalskii'', is a wholly separate subspecies with a different number of chromosomes than domesticated horses (''E. f. caballus''), and has never been successfully domesticated.
Pigs
The Mulefoot pig breed originated as a landrace, but has been a standardized breed since the early 1900s. The standardized swine breeds named "Landrace" are not actually landraces, and often not even derived from one, but from other breeds with "Landrace" in their names. The Danish Landrace pig breed, pedigreed in 1896 from the actual local landrace, is the principal ancestor of the American Landrace (1930s). The Swedish Landrace is derived from the Danish and from other Scandinavian breeds, as was the British Landrace
The British Landrace is a British domestic breed of pig and one of the most popular in the United Kingdom. It is pink with heavy drooping ears that cover most of the face and is bred for pork and bacon. The breed originated in the 1949 importati ...
breed, which was established as late as 1950. The Baudin pig was once a feral landrace on Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...
, South Australia.
Poultry
Landrace chicken varieties include:
* Danish hen
The Danish hen (Danish: ''Dansk landhøne'') is a chicken landrace native to Denmark. It is the only true native chicken landrace in the country and perhaps in all of Europe.
History
Archaeological remains have revealed that the particular bree ...
. A true landrace native to Denmark.
* Icelandic chicken
* Jærhøns. A landrace breed native to Norway.
* Swedish flower hen
Landrace duck varieties include:
* Danish landrace duck. A true landrace native to Denmark (or perhaps a former one; the modern Danish landrace duck is somewhat interbred).
* Swedish Blue duck, a modern breed, is derived from a landrace of the same name.
Landrace goose varieties include:
* Pilgrim goose. A North American landrace, thought to descend from western European stock dating back to the 17th century. The variety is associated with the Mayflower Pilgrims
The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who came to North America on the ''Mayflower'' and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymo ...
of Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...
, and has also been standardised as a formal breed since 1939.
* Twente Landrace goose. May be derived from true landrace geese.
* Danish landrace goose
Danish landrace goose (Danish language:'), or Danish goose, is a landrace variety of goose native to Denmark.
Description
The Danish goose is available in two variants, gray and gray mottled. It is a medium-sized goose, with a weight of about ...
. A true landrace.
Note: Many standardized breeds named "Landrace", e.g. the Twente Landrace goose, are not actually true landrace breeds, but may be derived from them.
Rabbits
* Gotland rabbit, a rare landrace of Sweden (not entirely limited to Gotland), subject to conservation but not development efforts by breeders.
* Mellerud rabbit, a very rare landrace of Sweden, subject to conservation but not development efforts by breeders
Notes
References
External links
{{Commons category, Landrace breeds
* /Diverseeds.eu/uploads/media/Crop_Wild_Relatives_ver2.mp4 Short DIVERSEEDS video on crop wild relatives and landraces in the fertile crescent in Israel
Biology terminology
Breeds
Domesticated plants
Domesticated animals
Rare breed conservation