Construction of selection and mating systems for maximizing genetic diversity in animal populations with overlapping generations

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Minimization of the average coancestry in a population has been theoretically proven to be the most efficient method to preserve genetic diversity. In the present study, based on a population genetic model, two selection methods to minimize the average coancestry in populations with overlapping generations were developed. For a given parental coancestry structure, the first method (OG) minimizes the average coancestry in the next generation, and the second method (LT) is designed to minimize the long-term accumulation of coancestry. The efficiencies of the two selection methods were examined by stochastic simulation. Compared to the method with random selection of parents, the annual effective population sizes under the two propose methods increased to 2-3 folds. The difference among the two selection methods was small in a population with short generation interval. For populations with long generation intervals, OG method showed a slightly larger annual effective size in an initial few years. However, in the proceeding years, LT method gave a 5-15% larger annual effective size than OG method. From these results, it is suggested that LT method would be preferred to OG method in most practical situations.