Genetic and Phenotypic Relationships Among Endocrine and Traditional Fertility Traits and Production Traits in Holstein-Friesian Dairy Cows

Royal, Melissa; Flint, A. P. F.; Woolliams, John

doi:10.3168/jds.s0022-0302(02)74155-6

Cited by 122 publications

(158 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

132

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The heritability estimates of CFH and CFS, however, are slightly larger than that generally observed from field data, which may be attributable to an expected greater accuracy of recording in experimental herds. The heritability estimate for CLA in the present study (0.13) is slightly lower than estimates of 0.16 reported elsewhere (Veerkamp et al, 2000;Royal et al, 2002;Petersson et al, 2007), although some degree of similarity is expected as the data used in the present study was also included in some previous estimates (Veerkamp et al, 2000). The phenotypic correlations among the different fertility traits are in general agreement with previous studies.…”

Section: Genetic Parameterssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…The use of hormonal profiles, related to fertility performance, can aid in Figure 2 Posterior quantitative trait locus probabilities, from top to bottom, for calving interval, number of services and pregnancy rate to first service for each of the autosomes from left (BTA 1) to right (BTA 29) and the X-chromosome at the far right. circumventing some of the limitations of traditional measures, and previous research has shown that heritability estimates for fertility traits derived from progesterone profiles tend to be greater than traditional measures of fertility (Veerkamp et al, 2000;Royal et al, 2002;Petersson et al, 2007). Nonetheless, the quantity of data on progesterone profiles at an individual animal level is limited mainly because of the expense of collecting these data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The phenotypic correlations among the different fertility traits are in general agreement with previous studies. Using data independent of the present study, Royal et al (2002) reported identical correlations to those in the present study of 0.12 and 20.03 between CLA and both CFS interval and Figure 3 Posterior quantitative trait locus probabilities from the bivariate analyses with commencement of luteal activity, from top to bottom, for calving to first heat interval, calving to first service interval, calving interval, number of services and pregnancy rate to first service for each of the autosomes from left (BTA 1) to right (BTA 29) and the X-chromosome at the far right.…”

Section: Genetic Parametersmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Nonetheless, the genetic correlations between the traditional fertility traits and CLA were different from those reported elsewhere, albeit the standard errors in the present study and in most of the other studies were large, attributable to a combination of low heritability of the fertility traits and the relatively small datasets. Royal et al (2002) reported a correlation for CLA of 20.03 (s.e. 5 0.27) and 0.49 (s.e.…”

Section: Genetic Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…calving interval, CI), imply that selection -E-mail: donagh.berry@teagasc.ie for these traits using traditional methods is more difficult than selection, for example, for milk yield traits. Fertility phenotypes defined using information on hormonal profiles are, in general, more heritable (Veerkamp et al, 2000;Royal et al, 2002;Petersson et al, 2007), partly because of a possible reduction in data recording errors or minimising the impact of preferential treatment of some animals such as post-partum voluntary waiting periods to service. The generation of such hormonal profiles on sufficient animals for routine use in genetic evaluations is, nonetheless, currently not economically feasible.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Genome-wide associations for fertility traits in Holstein–Friesian dairy cows using data from experimental research herds in four European countries

Berry

Bastiaansen

Veerkamp

et al. 2012

Animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Genome-wide association studies for difficult-to-measure traits are generally limited by the sample population size with accurate phenotypic data. The objective of this study was to utilise data on primiparous Holstein-Friesian cows from experimental farms in Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden to identify genomic regions associated with traditional measures of fertility, as well as a fertility phenotype derived from milk progesterone profiles. Traditional fertility measures investigated were days to first heat, days to first service, pregnancy rate to first service, number of services and calving interval (CI); post-partum interval to the commencement of luteal activity (CLA) was derived using routine milk progesterone assays. Phenotypic and genotypic data on 37 590 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were available for up to 1570 primiparous cows. Genetic parameters were estimated using linear animal models, and univariate and bivariate genome-wide association analyses were undertaken using Bayesian stochastic search variable selection performed using Gibbs sampling. Heritability estimates of the traditional fertility traits varied from 0.03 to 0.16; the heritability for CLA was 0.13. The posterior quantitative trait locus (QTL) probabilities, across the genome, for the traditional fertility measures were all ,0.021. Posterior QTL probabilities of 0.060 and 0.045 were observed for CLA on SNPs each on chromosome 2 and chromosome 21, respectively, in the univariate analyses; these probabilities increased when CLA was included in the bivariate analyses with the traditional fertility traits. For example, in the bivariate analysis with CI, the posterior QTL probability of the two aforementioned SNPs were 0.662 and 0.123. Candidate genes in the vicinity of these SNPs are discussed. The results from this study suggest that the power of genome-wide association studies in cattle may be increased by sharing of data and also possibly by using physiological measures of the trait under investigation.Keywords: genome-wide association, fertility, cow, progesterone ImplicationsTraditional genetic selection for fertility is made difficult by the low heritability of traditional fertility phenotypes. This limitation can be minimised by increasing the heritability of the trait(s) or by using genomic information that explains a large proportion of the genetic variation in fertility. In the present study, both approaches were investigated. Heritability estimates greater than some traditional fertility traits were observed for the post-partum commencement of luteal activity quantified using milk progesterone concentration. Specific regions of the genome associated with fertility were also observed, albeit they only explained a small proportion of the total genetic variance in the traits.

show abstract