Inbreeding may affect phenotypic traits in an Italian population of Basset Hound dogs

The influence of inbreeding depression on phenotypic traits of a Basset Hound dog Italian population was evaluated. Moreover, this paper reports the first results of a survey on morphological traits and analyse the genetic variability of the population using genealogical information. The following traits were studied: height at withers, height of chest, depth of chest, body length, length at rump, ischiatic width of rump, circumference of chest, circumference of cannon, length of ear, and length of nose. The inbreeding coefficient (F) of each dog was computed by genealogical data. Traits were taken from 75 adult (mean age 2.17 ± 1.545 years) dogs (36 males and 39 females) belonging to 19 different Italian farms. A linear regression of each trait on inbreeding coefficient was used to estimate inbreeding depression. ANOVA was used to test the differences in morphological traits between the sexes, among breeders and among animals with different F level. Despite the good level of genetic variability and the low coefficients of inbreeding observed in the population, a significant weakly effect of inbreeding on the depth of chest was observed. In addition, the present study revealed no significant differences in morphological traits between sexes and among farms.