scholarly journals PSIII-12 Peripheral blood parameters as proxies of performance in beef cattle: Heritability and genetic correlations between peripheral blood parameters and performance phenotypes

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 163-164
Author(s):  
Josue Chinchilla-Vargas ◽  
Luke M Kramer ◽  
John D Tucker ◽  
Donald S Hubbell ◽  
Jeremy G Powell ◽  
...  

Abstract Disease incidence and feed costs are two main drivers in cattle production operations. Frequently environmental stressors such as fescue toxicosis have negative effects on livestock performance and health. Low-cost methods to measure these types of health and stress response phenotypes are needed to capture their impact on production traits. Previous research has correlated white blood cell parameters to disease resistance in beef cattle. Based on this, blood parameters at weaning may be candidates that could be a proxy for selection and identification of high-performance animals in commercial settings. To identify candidate blood parameters, blood samples were collected at weaning on approximately 500 crossbred animals (Angus background crossed with Hereford, Charolais, Sim-Angus, Brangus) born between 2015 and 2016 and raised on toxic fescue. The animals were also genotyped at an approximate density of 50,000 SNPs. Complete blood counts (CBC) were obtained the blood samples and heritabilities for 15 peripheral blood parameters were estimated. For the CBC traits that were measured, heritabilities ranged from low to moderate (0.02 to 0.35). Based on current findings, a substantial genetic component for some CBC parameters exists and selection could be effective at improving these traits. Further research will estimate genetic correlations between peripheral blood parameters, weaning weight and average daily gain (ADG) with the intention of identifying correlated traits to be used in commercial selection programs.

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Brian McGuirk

AbstractThe major ruminant species, dairy and beef cattle and sheep, represent a rather heterogeneous group as regards genetic improvement, which to a large extent reflects their respective breeding structures. In the UK, the beef cattle and sheep industries still span many different breeds, have small herds/flocks, and have been relatively unaffected by agribusiness investment, and are assumed to have a traditional pyramid breeding structure, in which progress is determined by a small number of breeders. Recording of production information, which to date has focussed on terminal sire characteristics, is relatively recent, and until the use of across herd evaluations, genetic progress was probably limited. However in recent years there have been gains in both growth and muscling. There is little evidence or concern for undesired consequences in commercial flocks, partly because of the extensive use of crossbreeding in these industries, which exploits both breed complementarity and heterosis.By contrast, the dairy industry is now dominated by purebred Holsteins. Increasingly breeding activities are both global in scope and dominated by a small number of large breeding companies. Because most traits of interest are only expressed in the female, improvement programmes have continued to focus on progeny testing, with test daughters in many herds. Most recording schemes and promotional activities emphasise production and type traits. The dairy industry is also notable for the publication of bull progeny test results, so that top bulls can then be used as sires of the next generation of by all companies. These bull evaluations now extend to international rankings.Data from the US indicates continuing genetic progress for production traits in the Holstein, particularly since the 1960s, by when progeny testing had been established, frozen semen widely used, and adequate statistical procedures in place for evaluating bulls. Genetic progress is also evident for type traits. There is now growing concern and evidence of undesirable genetic changes in fertility, disease incidence and overall stress, despite improved nutrition and general management. Altering this situation will require both the recording of such traits and the use of that information by breeding companies, especially in sire selection.


1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 1275 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Tholen ◽  
KL Bunter ◽  
S Hermesch ◽  
HU Graser

Data sets from 2 large Australian piggeries were used to estimate genetic parameters for the traits weaning to conception interval (WCIi-l,i) and farrowing interval (FIi-l,i), number born alive (NBAI), average piglet birthweight (BWi), 21-day litter weight (W21i), and sow stayability (STAYli) recorded for each ith parity, as well as sow average daily gain (ADG) and backfat (BF) recorded at the end of performance test. Over parities and herds, heritabilities for each trait were in the ranges: WCI/FI, 0.0-0.10; NBA, 0.09-0.16; BW, 0.11-0.35; W21, 0.12-0.23; STAYli, 0.02-0.09; ADG, 0.35-0.37; BF, 0.36-0.45. Genetic correlations between NBAl and NBA from later parities were significantly different from 1. In addition, in 1 herd negative genetic correlations (rg = -0.04 to -0.25) were found between sow stayability traits and NBA1, but not NBA recorded in later parities. Stayability was Unfavourably correlated with ADG and BF, and favourably correlated with WCI12. However, WCI12 was unfavourably correlated genetically with BF (rg = -0.24) but uncorrelated with ADG. Antagonistic relationships also existed between NBA and BW, NBA and W21, and BW and STAY. In addition to the traditional traits currently included in pig-breeding programs (e.g. ADG, BF, and NBA), traits such as WCI, BW, and STAY should also be considered as selection criteria to minimise the detrimental effects of antagonistic genetic relationships between traits.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tety Hartatik ◽  
AHMAD FATHONI ◽  
SIGIT BINTARA ◽  
ISMAYA ◽  
PANJONO ◽  
...  

Abstract. Hartatik T., Fathoni A, Bintara S., Ismaya, Panjono, Widyobroto B.P, Agus A, Budisatria I.G.S, Leroy P. 2020. Short communication: The genotype of growth hormone gene that affects the birth weight and average daily gain in crossbred beef cattle. Biodiversitas 21: 941-945. Growth Hormone gene has been proposed to direct search for quantitative trait loci, and polymorphisms at these loci have been associated with several production traits in bovine. This research aimed to investigate the association of the genotype of partial growth hormone gene with birth weight and average daily gain in crossbred beef cattle. The materials of this research consist of 47 samples from four different breeds. Birth weight was measured just after calving delivery from the mother. The average daily gain was calculated from the period since birth weight to the second weight (90 days). Genotyping of the growth hormone gene was determined by the sequencing and PCR-RFLP method with the AluI restriction enzyme. The association between genotype and growth traits data was analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) by RStudio version 1.1.383. The results showed the significantly different (P<0.001) in birth weight and average daily gain according to the different breed. Friesian Holstein breed showed the highest birth weight, followed by Belgian Blue Bull cross and others. The genotype valine/valine only occurs in Belgian blue bull cross and Wagyu bull cross cattle and showed moderate birth weight. Genotype affects birth weight significantly (P<0.001). The birth weight for genotype leucine/leucine, leucine/valine, and valine/valine was 34.82±18.13, 25.31±13.10, and 29.35±13.65, respectively. There was no significant difference in average daily genes according to the different genotypes. In conclusion, the growth hormone gene was probably one of the molecular genetics markers for excellent growth traits in different crossbred beef cattle.


Genome ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 586-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duc Lu ◽  
Mehdi Sargolzaei ◽  
Changxi Li ◽  
Mohammed Abo-Ismail ◽  
Gordon Vander Voort ◽  
...  

This study reports a genome wide scan for chromosome regions and their haplotypes that significantly associated with average daily gain (ADG), dry matter intake (DMI), and residual feed intake (RFI) in beef cattle. The study used data from 597 Angus, 450 Charolais, and 616 crossbred beef cattle, and the Illumina Bovine SNP50 beadchip. Extended haplotype homozygosity was used to identify chromosome regions that had been recently selected for in the three groups of animals. Such regions in the crossbreds were tested for association with ADG, DMI, and RFI. At false discovery rates of 5% and 10%, there were six and eight chromosome regions showing significant associations with the traits, respectively. At nominal significance levels (at least P < 0.05), 23 regions with a total number of 31 haplotypes were found significantly associated with at least one of the three traits. The proportion of phenotypic variance explained by these 23 regions varied depending on the trait; the highest proportion for ADG, DMI, and RFI was 13.50%, 9.92%, and 2.64%, respectively. Most of the haplotypes affected single traits, except for GAA (BTA4), GCG (BTA7), and TAGT (BTA12) that affected multiple traits. Thirty-six quantitative trait loci for 16 production traits, from the current literature, covered fully or in part the 23 chromosome regions. The findings from this study might be an important contribution to the current knowledge of the beef cattle genome and to the effective identification of causative genes associated with important traits in cattle.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 29-29
Author(s):  
Josue Chinchilla-Vargas ◽  
Luke Kramer ◽  
Toby D Lester ◽  
Toby D Lester ◽  
Elizabeth A Backes ◽  
...  

Abstract Disease represents one of the main factors that determine profitability in animal production. Previous research has observed significant correlations between blood cell counts and the animal’s health status. We hypothesize that blood cell traits may be an effective indicator of performance in beef cattle. Complete blood counts were recorded from approximately 500 crossbred animals at weaning (Angus background crossed with Hereford, Charolais, Sim-Angus, Brangus) born between 2015 and 2016 and raised on toxic or novel tall fescue on three different farms. The animals were genotyped at an approximate density of 50,000 SNPs and the genotypes were imputed to an approximate density of 200,000 SNPs. Heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations were estimated for 15 blood and 4 production traits across and within environments. Finally, with the objective of identifying the genetic basis underlying the different blood traits, a genome wide association study (GWAS) was performed for all traits. Heritability estimates ranged from 0.11 to 0.60, and generally weak phenotypic correlations and strong genetic correlations were found, however these parameters varied across environments, pointing to GxE interactions. GWAS identified 90 1 Mb windows that explained 0.5% or more of the estimated genetic variance for at least 1 trait with 21 windows overlapping two or more traits. Further research efforts include identifying underlying candidate genes for traits and comparing toxic and novel fescue effects on blood traits. It appears that blood traits have weak phenotypic correlations but strong genetic correlations among themselves, as evidenced by important overlapping regions of genetic control for similar blood traits. However, blood traits have limited potential as indicator traits for productivity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 43-44
Author(s):  
Mariana Fontana Westphalen ◽  
Joonpyo Oh ◽  
Alexander N Hristov ◽  
Tara Felix

Abstract Objectives were to determine effects of rumen-protected Capsicum (RPC) on growth performance and immune response in growing beef cattle. Cattle were stratified by sex (steers = 24; heifers = 12) and body weight (BW; heavy or light) and randomly assigned to treatments: Control (no additive), or RPC (15 mg/kg of dry matter intake (DMI)). Cattle were transitioned over 21 days to a final diet of 80% grain mix and 20% corn silage. Cattle were weighed on test (d0 and 1), at end of adaptation (d21), at midpoint (d48 and 49), and off test (d98 and 99). Blood samples were collected on days 0, 21, and 98 for analysis of parameters related to immune function and energy status. Health treatments were recorded. Performance and blood variables (as repeated measures) were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS. Pen was the experimental unit. Health data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure; animal was the experimental unit. There was no interaction (P &gt; 0.10) of treatment and sampling day, nor main effect of treatment (P &gt; 0.10), for any blood parameters measured. There were no treatment effects (P &gt; 0.10) on DMI or feed efficiency. From d0 to 21, average daily gain (ADG) tended to be greater (P = 0.13) for animals fed RPC and was 22.9% greater (P = 0.10) for animals fed RPC from d22 to 49. While only 14% of the heavy animals were treated two or more times, 66% of light animals were treated two or more times (P &lt; 0.01), of which 77% were fed Control. Supplementing RPC improved early feedlot ADG. Although there were no changes in blood parameters, ADG improvement may be related to health status.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 160-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Irvine Lopez ◽  
Vanessa Viterbo ◽  
Choul Won Song ◽  
Kang Seok Seo

Abstract: Genetic parameters and accuracy of genomic prediction for production traits in a Duroc population were estimated. Data were on 24 828 purebred Duroc pigs born in 2000–2016. After quality control procedures, 30 263 single nucleotide polymorphism markers and 560 animals remained that were used to predict the genomic breeding values of individuals. Accuracies of predicted breeding values for average daily gain (ADG), backfat thickness (BF), loin muscle area (LMA), lean percentage (LP) and age at 90 kg (D90) between pedigree-based and single-step methods were compared. Analyses were carried out with a multivariate animal model to estimate genetic parameters for production traits while univariate analyses were performed to predict the genomic breeding values of individuals. Heritability estimates from pedigree analysis were moderate to high. Heritability estimates and standard error for ADG, BF, LMA, LP and D90 were 0.35 ± 0.01, 0.35 ± 0.11, 0.24 ± 0.04, 0.42 ± 0.11 and 0.37 ± 0.03, respectively. Genetic correlations of ADG with BF and LP were low and negative. Genetic correlations of LMA with ADG, BF, LP and D90 were –0.37, –0.27, 0.48 and 0.31, respectively. High correlations were observed between ADG and D90 (–0.98), and also between BF and LP (–0.93). Accuracies of genomic breeding values for ADG, BF, LMA, LP and D90 were 0.30, 0.33, 0.38, 0.40 and 0.28, respectively. Corresponding accuracies using pedigree-based method were 0.29, 0.32, 0.38, 0.39 and 0.27, respectively. The results showed that the single-step method did not show significant advantage compared to the pedigree-based method.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rostam Abdollahi Arpanahi ◽  
Daniela Lourenco ◽  
Ignacy Misztal

Genomic selection has been adopted nationally and internationally in different livestock and plant species. However, understanding whether genomic selection has been effective or not is an essential question for both industry and academia. Once genomic evaluation started being used, estimation of breeding values with pedigree BLUP became biased because this method does not consider selection using genomic information. Hence, the effective start point of genomic selection can be detected in two possible ways including the divergence of genetic trends and Realized Mendelian sampling (RMS) trends obtained with BLUP and Single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP). This study aimed to find the start date of genomic selection for a set of economically important traits in three livestock species by comparing trends obtained using BLUP and ssGBLUP. For this purpose, three datasets comprised a pig dataset with 117k genotypes and 1.3M animals in pedigree, Angus cattle dataset consisted of ~842k genotypes and 11.5M animals in pedigree, and a purebred broiler chicken dataset included ~154k genotypes and 1.3M birds in pedigree were used. The genetic trends for pigs diverged for the genotyped animals born in 2014 for average daily gain and backfat. In beef cattle, the trends started diverging in 2009 for weaning weight and in 2016 for postweaning gain, with little diverging for birth weight. In broiler chickens, the genetic trends estimated by ssGBLUP and BLUP diverged at breeding cycle 6 for two out of three production traits. The RMS trends for the genotyped pigs diverged for animals born in 2014, more for average daily gain than for backfat. In beef cattle, the RMS trends started diverging in 2009 for weaning weight and in 2016 for postweaning gain, with a trivial trend for birth weight. In broiler chickens, the RMS trends from ssGBLUP and BLUP diverged strongly for two production traits at breeding cycle 6, with a slight divergence for another trait. Divergence of the genetic trends from ssGBLUP and BLUP indicates onset of the genomic selection. Presence of trends for RMS indicates selective genotyping, with or without the genomic selection. The onset of genomic selection and genotyping strategies agree with industry practices across the 3 species. In summary, the effective start of genomic selection can be detected by the divergence between genetic and RMS trends from BLUP and ssGBLUP.


Author(s):  
Rostam Abdollahi-Arpanahi ◽  
Daniela Lourenco ◽  
Ignacy Misztal

Abstract Genomic selection has been adopted nationally and internationally in different livestock and plant species. However, understanding whether genomic selection has been effective or not is an essential question for both industry and academia. Once genomic evaluation started being used, estimation of breeding values with pedigree BLUP became biased because this method does not consider selection using genomic information. Hence, the effective starting point of genomic selection can be detected in two possible ways including the divergence of genetic trends and Realized Mendelian sampling (RMS) trends obtained with BLUP and Single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP). This study aimed to find the start date of genomic selection for a set of economically important traits in three livestock species by comparing trends obtained using BLUP and ssGBLUP. Three datasets were used for this purpose: a pig dataset with 117k genotypes and 1.3M animals in pedigree, an Angus cattle dataset consisted of ~842k genotypes and 11.5M animals in pedigree, and a purebred broiler chicken dataset included ~154k genotypes and 1.3M birds in pedigree were used. The genetic trends for pigs diverged for the genotyped animals born in 2014 for average daily gain and backfat. In beef cattle, the trends started diverging in 2009 for weaning weight and in 2016 for postweaning gain, with little divergence for birth weight. In broiler chickens, the genetic trends estimated by ssGBLUP and BLUP diverged at breeding cycle 6 for two out of three production traits. The RMS trends for the genotyped pigs diverged for animals born in 2014, more for average daily gain than for backfat. In beef cattle, the RMS trends started diverging in 2009 for weaning weight and in 2016 for postweaning gain, with a trivial trend for birth weight. In broiler chickens, the RMS trends from ssGBLUP and BLUP diverged strongly for two production traits at breeding cycle 6, with a slight divergence for another trait. Divergence of the genetic trends from ssGBLUP and BLUP indicates onset of the genomic selection. The presence of trends for RMS indicates selective genotyping, with or without the genomic selection. The onset of genomic selection and genotyping strategies agree with industry practices across the three species. In summary, the effective start of genomic selection can be detected by the divergence between genetic and RMS trends from BLUP and ssGBLUP.


2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 971 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. Prayaga ◽  
J. M. Henshall

Adaptability in tropical beef cattle can be assessed by measurable traits such as growth under the influence of environmental stressors, by parasite resistance as measured by indicator traits such as tick counts (TICK) and faecal egg counts of worms (EPG), by heat resistance as measured by indicator traits such as rectal temperatures (TEMP) and coat scores (COAT) and, to a certain extent, temperament of the animal as measured by flight time (FT). Data from a crossbreeding experiment involving various genotypes derived from tropically adapted British, Sanga-derived, Zebu cross, Zebu and Continental beef cattle breeds were analysed to estimate variance components and genetic parameters of growth, adaptive and temperament traits. Breed group differences were accounted for by including fractional coefficients of direct and maternal additive and dominance genetic effects as covariates. In the univariate analyses, 6 models were compared ranging from the simplest model with animal as the only random effect to the full model comprising direct and maternal additive genetic variance and their covariance and the permanent environment effect due to dam (growth traits) and animal (adaptive and temperament traits). The heritability estimates were 0.41, 0.21, 0.19, 0.28, 0.41 and 0.15 for birth weight (BWT), weaning weight (WWT), preweaning average daily gain (PREADG), yearling weight (YWT), final weight at about 18 months of age (FWT) and post-weaning average daily gain (POADG), respectively. The maternal component of additive genetic variance as a proportion of phenotypic variance in BWT, WWT and PREADG was 0.15, 0.10 and 0.10, respectively. The heritability estimates for TICK, EPG, TEMP, COAT and FT were 0.13, 0.24, 0.12, 0.26 and 0.20, respectively. High positive genetic and phenotypic correlations were observed among growth traits. Low (insignificant) genetic correlations were observed between TICK, EPG and growth traits. However, genetic correlations between growth traits and heat tolerance traits (TEMP and COAT) were moderately negative implying that as the ability of an animal to handle heat stress increases, growth also increases at the genetic level. Genetic correlations among TICK, EPG and TEMP were moderately positive, suggesting that closely-linked genes affect these adaptive traits. The significant negative genetic relationship between TEMP and FT suggests that cattle with high heat resistance have desirable temperament. With the increasing crossbred populations in the northern Australian beef cattle industry, the best breeding strategy should aim to exploit both crossbreeding and within population selection to make improvements in growth, adaptive and temperament traits to increase overall productivity of the enterprise.


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