Heritabilities and Genetic Correlations of Body Condition Score and Calving Interval with Yield, Somatic Cell Score, and Linear Type Traits in Brown Swiss Cattle

Abstract

This study aimed to estimate genetic parameters for body condition score (BCS), calving interval (CI), somatic cell score (SCS), yield, and linear type traits for the Italian Brown Swiss cattle population. A total of 32,359 records of first-parity lactating cows were collected from 2002 to 2004 in 4,885 dairy herds. The pedigree file included 96,661 animals. Multiple-trait animal models were analyzed using REML to estimate (co)variance components without repeated observations on traits. The estimated heritability was 0.15 for BCS, 0.05 for CI, and 0.06 for SCS, and ranged from 0.09 to 0.14 for test-day yield traits and from 0.07 to 0.32 for linear type traits. The genetic correlations of CI with yield and most linear type traits were positive, whereas the correlation between CI and BCS was negative (-0.35). For type traits, BCS showed, in general, a moderately negative genetic correlation except for strength, pastern, and heel height. The genetic correlation of CI or BCS with SCS was moderately low but favorable (0.19 and -0.26, respectively). The estimated correlations indicated that selection for greater yield and type traits can exert unfavorable effects on the reproductive ability of cows. To counterbalance these effects and to carry out early prediction of breeding values of bulls for fertility, inclusion of BCS in the breeding program is advisable.

Heritabilities and genetic correlations of lactational and daily somatic cell score with conformation traits in Polish Holstein cattle

“…Th e results for genetic relationships between lactational SCS and conformation traits are in agreement with those from other authors (Boettcher et al, 1998;Kadarmideen, 2004). However, there is a paucity of literature concerning genetic parameters of daily SCS together with type traits (Dal Zotto et al, 2007;Ptak et al, 2009b).…”

Genetic parameters for female fertility and milk production traits in first-parity Czech Holstein cows

“…Estimated genetic correlations between DO and production traits were MLK (0.39), FAT (0.40), and PROT (0.49). Slightly higher but similar results were presented in a study by Dal Zotto et al, (2007) between the same production traits and calving interval (CI). There is a very good opportunity to compare the studies where CI or DO is used, because of the similarity between the two traits where a strong genetic correlation was estimated in the study of González-Recio and Alenda (2005).…”

“…Most studies focus on the relationship between CI and milk production traits (e.g. Pryce et al, 2000;Dal Zotto et al, 2007). Fewer studies have looked at other common reproduction traits along with those for milk production (e.g.…”

Genome-wide associations for feed utilisation complex in primiparous Holstein–Friesian dairy cows from experimental research herds in four European countries

“…This makes routine selection in breeding programmes too difficult, but also means that studies that estimated genetic parameters for the feed utilisation complex in dairy cows have generally been confined to a small number of animals from research herds (Svendsen et al, 1994;Veerkamp et al, 2000;Berry et al, 2007). As a result, there has been considerable interest in predictors of the feed utilisation complex, like, for example, BCS (Koenen et al, 2001;Banos et al, 2004;Dal Zotto et al, 2007), or other predictors of body energy state (Coffey et al, 2003). However, studies with actual feed intake measures tend to have few animals recorded, which makes it difficult to establish the driving sources of genetic variation in feed efficiency (see Veerkamp et al, 1993;Veerkamp, 2002) and optimal selection strategies due to lack of reliable genetic parameters.…”