I’m just curious if breeding for resistance would be effective for guinea pigs too, or rats? Would you have to do things slightly differently with theses species?
***** Karen Sez *****
Hi Keith, I highly doubt whether you'd need to change anything in order to breed for resistance to various pathogenic organisms.
The big question is: Is the breeder willing to do the culling that is required? One needs to dispatch all animals without an adequate immune response to the germs in question, keep the perhaps 25% (or possibly less) of offspring that show no symptoms, and perpetuate the herd with animals that don't get sick under conditions of normal daily life.
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