Saturday, 2 May 2015

Why DNA Testing For Horses Is Done

By Stella Gay


Horses are amazing creatures. They are good human companions and they can become really loyal when tames and trained. They can help in the farm, they are extremely athletic and can be trained for racing or equestrian sports. Moreover, they are beautiful and relaxing to look at in the farm just roaming around with their foals.

Certainly, you are already oriented with DNA technology. You have seen this on news and the benefits it has. This is good for investigations and forensics, specifically in identifying human bodies. DNA testing for horses is also very popular these days. This is required before the foals can be registered.

Before foals get registered, it is important that their DNA genotypes are identified and verified. Experts look into the parentage of the foals of any breed. This is scientifically based and there are methods that only experts can execute. The methods are similar to the techniques used in human forensics.

As an overview of the methods, there are several steps that the experts go through. The equine hair samples are taken where they take or isolate the genes from the cells of the hair follicle. The test is proven to be ninety nine point ninety nine percent accurate.

This is required by the International Society of Animal Genetics. Wherever the equines will be sent anywhere in the world, the same results should be taken along with them to make sure they are registered. Hence, there is no need to retest their genetic parentage in another place.

At times, the results are unexpected. Some foals do not match with either of the dime nor sire. This happens usually when they are exchanged with another in the paddock. Other stallions will breed with other mares that they are not supposed to breed. These are basically why there is a dire need to identify parentage among these creatures.

Misidentifications and errors are now easily detected through the genetic technology. It is really amazing how they can trace the real parentage with this technology. But in order to make this possible, it is also important to have records of the DNA of the dam and sire in the files. This way, it is easy to identify where the genes of the foals really match with.

Hence, it is really important to take the DNA samples of all breed types. Identification of the foals will be easier if the genetic identities of the dam and sire have already been stored in the database. There could be delays or errors if the information in the database is lacking or limited.

This technology has been advancing in many levels. In the future, it is expected that this will continue to evolve and develop. Testing will become even more accurate than it already is. Aside from this, blood typing is also crucial. So when raising horses, it is necessary to actually take all these information first to ensure that all breeds are registered through DNA identification.




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