Line breeding is the process of breeding closely related animals, usually father to daughter or mother to son, in an effort to improve individual traits.
Inbreeding is the same as line breeding but the animals are much more closely related, typically brother and sister.
Nearly all animals have been inbred or line bred at some point, and rabbits are no exception.
In fact every breed of domesticated rabbit have been bred by humans into what they are now.
Hundreds or sometimes thousands of years of breeding lines have created the cows, pigs, sheep, and other farm animals that we now have. Rabbits are no different.
If you want to narrow the range of genes in your rabbits, thereby enhancing the good and bad traits, and can sort and cull out the poor results constantly and continuing on to the next generation then you can enhance your breeding stock to your individual liking.
Even more so, if you have a good eye and good judgment, you will create superior rabbit stock. When you’re thinking about how to get the best herd with the least amount of animals, there’s no doubt you have to consider how closely related you want your rabbits to be over the long haul.
When you start out with good stock and have a good herd and practice selective breeding, in-breeding and line-breeding will build strength and not weakness.
Unless there are “bad” recessive genes in your starting buck and doe that line up in their offspring, you can line breed rabbits for generations without encountering any decline.
Line breeding enhances characteristics both desirable and undesirable, so if there is an inherited weakness then yes, it will become worse. If there is a strength the offspring will improve with every generation.
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