Genetic relationships between seven Spanish native breeds of cattle.

Ten genetic markers were studied in seven Spanish native cattle breeds, using a total of 725 animals. Of the ten, two were found to be monomorphic in all seven breeds. The genetic relationships of the seven breeds are estimated by three different genetic-statistical methods (genetic distances, main coordinate analysis and cluster analysis), which indicate three clearly distinct groups of populations: one where the Cárdena Andaluza and Alistana Sanabresa are very closely related, one comprising Sayaguesa, Morucha, Asturiana de los Valles and Asturiana de la Montaña cattle, and a third, genetically distant from the other two, comprising only Blanca Cacereña. The dendrogram drawn from the genetic distances matrix would seem to imply that the seven breeds are descended from different ancestors.