Breed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- See Breed (song) for the song by Nirvana. See Breed (video game) for the video game by Brat Designs.
A breed is a domesticated subspecies or infrasubspecies of an animal.
A breed has no close analogy for domesticated plants. An important difference is that plants are commonly propagated by striking or grafting cuttings: there is no corresponding technique for animals. Cloning may change this if it becomes more available.
A breed should also be distinguished from a strain, which is simply the descendants of a single significant individual, and which in domesticated animals is also known as a bloodline. A strain may not remain entirely within a breed, nor is a breed necessarily composed of a single strain.
For a type to be recognised as a breed, there should be a viable true-breeding population. See also selective breeding, genotype, phenotype.
Breed, when used as a verb, means an action to produce a new offspring.
[edit] Common animal breeds
- List of cat breeds
- List of breeds of cattle
- List of chicken breeds
- List of dog breeds
- List of horse breeds
- List of rabbit breeds
- List of pigeon breeds
