Modelling and estimation of genotype by environment interactions for production traits in French dairy cattle

Genetics Selection Evolution

Research

Vincent Ducrocq¹  Bérénice Huquet²  Hélène Leclerc³ 

[1] INRA, UMR1313 Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative, F-78352, Jouy-en-Josas, France;INRA, UMR1313 Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative, F-78352, Jouy-en-Josas, France;Institut de l’Elevage, 149 rue de Bercy, 75012, Paris, France;Institut de l’Elevage, 149 rue de Bercy, 75012, Paris, France;

关键词: Genetic Correlation;    Milk Yield;    Production Trait;    Principal Component Score;    Herd Management;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1297-9686-44-35

 received in 2012-05-16, accepted in 2012-11-07,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundGenotype by environment interactions are currently ignored in national genetic evaluations of dairy cattle. However, this is often questioned, especially when environment or herd management is wide-ranging. The aim of this study was to assess genotype by environment interactions for production traits (milk, protein, fat yields and fat and protein contents) in French dairy cattle using an original approach to characterize the environments.MethodsGenetic parameters of production traits were estimated for three breeds (Holstein, Normande and Montbéliarde) using multiple-trait and reaction norm models. Variables derived from Herd Test Day profiles obtained after a test day model evaluation were used to define herd environment.ResultsMultiple-trait and reaction norm models gave similar results. Genetic correlations were very close to unity for all traits, except between some extreme environments. However, a relatively wide range of heritabilities by trait and breed was found across environments. This was more the case for milk, protein and fat yields than for protein and fat contents.ConclusionsNo real reranking of animals was observed across environments. However, a significant scale effect exists: the more intensive the herd management for milk yield, the larger the heritability.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Huquet et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.