Prof. Dr. István Nagy - MATE Research
Overview
Prof. Dr. István Nagy DSc. is a professor at the Institute of Animal Sciences, MATE, Kaposvár Campus, the head of the Animal Breeding Department. He is a senior member of the Agricultural and Food Sciences Doctoral school, the head of the Hungarian Branch of the World Rabbit Science Association (WRSA) and member of EAAP working group representing East and Central Europe.
His main field of interests involve breeding value estimation in rabbits and pigs, quantitative genetics, especially inbreeding related topics. In the Hungarian animal breeding he introduced several novel concepts like Bayesian inference, ROC Curves, partial inbreeding, ancestral inbreeding, genetic purging and hidden individual inbreeding load. He authored or co-authored 107 publications that were referenced in SCOPUS. His Hirsch index is 27. Based on his scientific achievements in 2025 he received the Darányi Ignác award.
Research keywords:
Publications
Nagy I., Curik I., Nguyen A.T., Farkas J., Kövér Gy. Short communication: The importance of random effects in detecting purging of inbreeding depression: A model comparison in Pannon White rabbits ANIMAL: THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ANIMAL BIOSCIENCES 19 : 2 Paper: 101412 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2024.101412
Augustin Blasco, István Nagy, Pilar Hernández Genetics and genomics of growth, carcass and meat production traits in rabbits In: Luca, Fontanesi (szerk.) The genetics and genomics of the rabbit. Wallingford, Egyesült Királyság / Anglia : CABI (2021) 344 p. pp. 179-196., 18 p. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781780643342.0010
Manuel Baselga, István Nagy, Miriam Piles, Hervé Garreau, Luca Bottazzoni, Zsolt Szendrő, Maria-Luz Garcia Genetic improvement in the meat rabbit In: Luca, Fontanesi (szerk.) The genetics and genomics of the rabbit. Wallingford, Egyesült Királyság / Anglia : CABI (2021) 344 p. pp. 234-249. , 16 p. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781780643342.001
Curik Ino, Kövér György, Farkas János, Szendrő Zsolt, Romvári Róbert, Sölkner Johann, Nagy Istvan Inbreeding depression for kit survival at birth in a rabbit population under long-term selection. GENETICS SELECTION EVOLUTION 52 : 1 Paper: 39 , 13 p. (2020) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12711-020-00557-3
Nagy I, Gorjanc G, Curik I, Farkas J, Kiszlinger H, Szendrő Zs. The contribution of dominance and inbreeding depression in estimating variance components for litter size in Pannon White rabbits JOURNAL OF ANIMAL BREEDING AND GENETICS-ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR TIERZUCHTUNG UND ZUCHTUNGSBIOLOGIE 130 : 4 pp. 303-311. , 9 p. (2013) https://doi.org/10.1111/jbg.12022
Nagy I, Curik I, Radnai I, Cervantes I, Gyovai P, Baumung R, Farkas J, Szendrő Zs Genetic diversity and population structure of the synthetic Pannon White rabbit revealed by pedigree analyses- JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE 88 : 4 pp. 1267-1275. , 9 p. (2010) https://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2009-2273
Projects
Genetic evaluation of the dominance effect in domesticated rabbits (K 106175)
In the course of this project three populations of different rabbit genotypes (Pannon White breed, Pannon Ka (maternal line) and Pannon Terminal line) will be analyzed from quantitative genetic aspects. The main objective of this study is to estimate genetic parameters (additive genetic effects, dominance effects), inbreeding depression and breeding value stability for the available reproductive (number of kits born alive, number of kits born dead, total number of born kits and litter weight at day 21), growth (average daily gain between the ages of 5 and 10 weeks) and slaughter (thigh muscle volume, thigh muscle weight, dressing out percentage, perirenal fat weight, intramuscular fat weight and ratio of the hind part of the carcass) traits using different animal models.
Analysis of purging and likelihood of genetic death in Pannon White rabbit and Border Collie dog populations (K 128177)
In the course of this project two populations (Pannon White rabbit breed and Hungarian Border collie dog) will be analysed from complex inbreeding aspects. The main objectives of this study are to estimate genetic parameters, inbreeding depression (including number of lethal equivalents and likelihood of genetic death) for the available reproductive traits (number of kits born alive, number of kits born dead, total number of born kits and survival rate at birth) of the rabbits and genetic diseases (Collie eye anomaly, trapped neutrophil syndrome, elbow and hip dysplasia) of the Hungarian Border collie dogs. Ancestors carrying inbreeding load will be identified which can subsequently be utilised getting rid of their contribution to inbreeding of future generation.
Assessment of Inbreeding Burden in Hungarian Breeds: Challenging Technological Solutions to Improve Genetic Health and Resilience (NKFI ADVANCED 150863)
Our main objective in this project is to improve the current estimation of harmful inbreeding burden based on pedigree phenotype or whole genome sequence (WGS) information, focusing on advanced technological solutions to improve the monitoring and management of harmful inbreeding load in several important Hungarian breeds (Mangalica pigs, Pannon rabbits and Thoroughbred horses). The scientific challenges are in particular: i) the development of software to calculate sex-specific classical and ancestral inbreeding coefficients, ii) the estimation of inbreeding depression and purging, iii) the prediction of individual inbreeding load and iv) the quantification of harmful mutation load using WGS information.
