Linebreeding is a form of inbreeding practiced by some animal breeders to "fix" desirable traits in a breed of animal, without as high a risk of producing undesirable traits that may occur with close inbreeding.

A typical example of linebreeding would be what in human parlance would be considered a mating of first cousins or more distantly related individuals who share a common ancestor.

While linebreeding is less likely to cause problems in the first generation than does inbreeding, over time, linebreeding can reduce the genetic diversity of a population and cause problems related to a too-small genepool that may include an increased prevalence of genetic disorders and inbreeding depression.

See also

• Inbreeding
• Outcrossing
• Inbreeding depression