Historical Changes and Description of the Current Hungarian Hucul Horse Population

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Originally, the Hucul horse breed was bred in the northeastern parts of the forested Carpathians. Only a few animals survived the Second World War and the regeneration of the breed started in those times. The aim of the current work was to give an overview of this rescue work from gene conservation point of view with the evaluation of the population changes within this few decades-long time interval. The pedigree quality, gene origin, inbreeding and status of stallion lines and mare families were evaluated. The main finding of the study was that inbreeding in the recent years was successfully limited and current inbreeding levels are the reason of previous gene fixations. Due to the increased number of mare families, genetic variability also increased. However, the proper management of the stallion utilization is important to prevent the future increasing of the inbreeding level of the Hucul breed. ABSTRACT: Gene conservation and management of small populations requires proper knowledge of the background and history of the breed. The aim of the study was the evaluation of population structure and changes of the Hungarian Hucul horse population. Population changes were described for the actual breeding stock as well as for groups of 10-year epochs reflecting major periods of change in the breed. Pedigree data of the registered population were analyzed using Endog and GRain software. The average value of equivalent complete generations was above nine for the actual breeding population. The longest generation interval was the sire-to-daughter pathway. The f(e)/f ratio had smaller changes than f(a)/f(e) ratio across the population history. Inbreeding and average relatedness as well as ancestral coefficients had increased during history. Kalinowski’s decomposition of inbreeding showed that present inbreeding is smaller than it was done earlier during the last 20 years. Due to the continuous imports from other breeder countries, the genetic variability increased during the evaluated time periods.