Search

The Canadian dairy industry implemented genomic selection in 2009 to improve breeding in Holstein cattle and has been applied to several other dairy cattle breeds since then. Genomic selection is an effective breeding tool that can increase the accuracy of prediction and help to select young animals using genotypic information. As well as shortening generation intervals, genomic selection has also increased the genetic gain per generation and the profitability of the industry. However, genomic selection tends to increase inbreeding, reduce the effective population size and cause a loss in genetic variation. These consequences could lead to future challenges like lower selection response. To evaluate the sustainability of current breeding practices, investigation is warranted to observe the effects of genomic selection. Therefore, the objective of this study is to compare the population structure of Canadian Holstein cattle before and after the implementation of genomic selection in 2009. Using pedigree information to identify the number of sires used for breeding at three different time points (2000, 2010 and 2020), the number of daughters per sire, and length of time sires were used were investigated. Results show that the average number of offspring per top sire (top 10%) has decreased by 50%, however the average relatedness of available sires has increased considerably. This information will add to our knowledge of the effects genomic selection has had on the Canadian dairy industry and will inform future recommendations for sustainable breeding strategies that facilitate continual genetic progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The list of standard abbreviations for JDS is available at adsa.org/jds-abbreviations-24. Nonstandard abbreviations are available in the Notes. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of copy number variants (CNV) on 13 reproduction and 12 disease traits in Holstein cattle. Intensity signal files containing log R ratio and B allele frequency information from 13,730 Holstein animals genotyped with a 95K SNP panel, and 8,467 Holstein animals genotyped with a 50K SNP panel were used to identify the CNVs. Subsequently, the identified CNVs were validated using whole-genome sequence data from 126 animals, resulting in 870 high-confidence copy number variant regions (CNVR) on 12,131 animals. Out of these, 54 CNVR had frequencies higher than or equal to 1% in the population and were used in the genome-wide association analysis (one CNVR at a time, including the G matrix). Results revealed that 4 CNVR were significantly associated with at least one of the traits analyzed in this study. Specifically, 2 CNVR were associated with 3 reproduction traits (i.e., calf survival, first service to conception, and nonreturn rate), and 2 CNVR were associated with 2 disease traits (i.e., metritis and retained placenta). These CNVR harbored genes implicated in immune response, cellular signaling, and neuronal development, supporting their potential involvement in these traits. Further investigations to unravel the mechanistic and functional implications of these CNVR on the mentioned traits are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]