Natural Breed

A landrace is a domesticated, 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 of agriculture and pastoralism, 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 crops., 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, 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, 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 populations that form new landraces through evolutionary pressure.

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, biological sciences, agribusiness, anthropology and culture, environmental conservation, pet 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, disease and pests, even cultural practices.
* It is not the product of formal (governmental, organizational, or private) breeding programs, 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 (i.e. genetic diversity).

Terminology

''Landrace'' literally means 'country-breed' (German: ''Landrasse'') Based on the ''Random House Dictionary''. and close cognates of it are found in various Germanic languages. The first known reference to the role of landraces as genetic resources was made in 1890 at an agriculture and forestry congress in Vienna, Austria. 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 (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), old breed, and indigenous 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 crops. 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, cultivars, 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.

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 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 International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the "Plant Treaty" for short), under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (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, and a landrace may become a more formal breed with the creation of a breed registry or publication of a breed standard. 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.

While many landrace animals are associated with farming, other domestic animals have been put to use as modes of transportation, as companion animals, 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'' and in online-searchable germplasm collections (seed banks), coordinated by Biodiversity International and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (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 Balkans, 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 crops 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, and traditional European cuisine

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