Estimated genetic parameters for all genetically evaluated traits in Canadian Holsteins.

Oliveira Junior, G A; Schenkel, F S; Alcantara, L; Houlahan, K; Lynch, C; Baes, C F (2021). Estimated genetic parameters for all genetically evaluated traits in Canadian Holsteins. Journal of dairy science, 104(8), pp. 9002-9015. American Dairy Science Association 10.3168/jds.2021-20227

Preview

Text 1-s2.0-S0022030221005749-main.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works (CC-BY-NC-ND). Download (343kB) | Preview

Genetic improvement is a crucial tool to deal with the increasing demand for high quality, sustainably produced dairy. Breeding programs are based on genetic parameters, such as heritability and genetic correlations, for economically important traits in a population. In this study, we estimated population genetic parameters and genetic trends for 67 traits evaluated on heifers and first-lactation Canadian Holstein cows. The data consisted of approximately 500,000 records with pedigree information collected from 1980 to 2019. Genetic parameters were estimated using bivariate linear animal models under a Bayesian approach. Analyses for the 67 traits resulted in 2,211 bivariate combinations, from which the estimated genetic parameters are reported here. The most highly heritable traits were fat percent (0.66) and protein percent (0.69), followed by stature (0.47). Lowest heritabilities (0.01) were observed for disease-related traits, such as lameness and toe ulcer, and calf survival. The genetic correlations between gestation length, calf size, and calving ease measured on both heifer and cows were close to unity. On the other hand, traits such as body condition score and pin width, cystic ovaries and sole ulcer, rear teat placement, and toe ulcer were genetically unrelated. This study reports genetic parameters that have not been previously published for Canadian Holstein cows, and provides updates of those previously estimated. These estimates are useful for building new indexes, updating existing selection indexes, and for predicting correlated responses due to inclusion of novel traits in the breeding programs.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

276 since deposited on 13 Sep 2021
57 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item