A breed is a domesticated subspecies or infrasubspecies of an animal. For a type to be recognised as a breed, there should be a viable true-breeding population. The term may also be used as a verb, meaning action intended to produce offspring. The breeder makes it his or her trade to engage in plant breeding and the maintenance and creation of breeds of animals suitable for domestication. Dogs and sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated. ... This article is about the zoological term. ... An infraspecies or infrasubspecies is a category of organisms of rank lower than subspecies. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... In biology, offspring are the product of reproduction, a new organism produced by one or more parents. ... This article concerns Breeder, an occupation in agriculture, animal husbandry, or animal fancy. ... Plant breeding is the purposeful manipulation of plant species in order to create desired genotypes and phenotypes for specific purposes. ... Dogs and sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated. ...

A breed has no close analogy for domesticated plants. An important difference is that plants are commonly propagated by striking or grafting cuttings: in lower animals, regeneration serves as the corresponding technique, and will result in assexual reproduction. Cloning in higher animals offers genetically-closed reproduction. For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation). ... Grafted apple tree Malus sp. ... For other uses, see clone. ...

A breed should also be distinguished from a strain, which is simply the descendants of a single significant individual, and which in domesticated animals is also known as a bloodline. A strain may not remain entirely within a breed, nor is a breed necessarily composed of a single strain.

Common animal breeds

• List of cat breeds
• List of breeds of cattle
• List of chicken breeds
• List of dog breeds
• List of horse breeds
• List of rabbit breeds
• List of pigeon breeds
• Domestic pig#Breeds of pigs
• List of sheep breeds

The following is a list of cat breeds recognized by various cat registries. ... The following is a list of breeds of cattle. ... This is an incomplete list of chicken breeds. ... Dogs have been selectively bred for thousands of years, sometimes by inbreeding dogs from the same ancestral lines, sometimes by mixing dogs from very different lines. ... // Horse breeds (1). ... Rabbit breeds are notably different varieties of domestic rabbit created through selective breeding or natural selection. ... This is a list of bird breeds. ... Trinomial name Sus scrofa domestica Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Sus domestica The domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica) is normally given the scientific name Sus scrofa, though some taxonomists use the term , reserving for the wild boar. ... This is a list of domestic sheep breeds. ...

See also

• cultivar
• purebred
• variety (plant)
• Landrace
• Race (biology)
• selective breeding
• Subspecies