What does inbreeding involve?

Inbreeding involves mating closely related rabbit stock, which can include siblings, parents to offspring, or other closely related individuals within the same breed. This practice is often used in animal breeding to fix specific traits within a lineage. However, it can lead to a higher risk of genetic defects and reduced overall health due to the lack of genetic diversity. Inbreeding can enhance certain desirable traits, but it may also result in the expression of harmful recessive genes, which are more likely to manifest when closely related animals are bred together. Therefore, the concept central to inbreeding is the deliberate pairing of related individuals, which distinguishes it from practices like crossbreeding or improving genetic diversity.