PSIII-12 Peripheral blood parameters as proxies of performance in beef cattle: Heritability and genetic correlations between peripheral blood parameters and performance phenotypes

Disease incidence and feed costs are two main drivers in cattle production operations. Frequently environmental stressors such as fescue toxicosis have negative effects on livestock performance and health. Low-cost methods to measure these types of health and stress response phenotypes are needed to capture their impact on production traits. Previous research has correlated white blood cell parameters to disease resistance in beef cattle. Based on this, blood parameters at weaning may be candidates that could be a proxy for selection and identification of high-performance animals in commercial settings. To identify candidate blood parameters, blood samples were collected at weaning on approximately 500 crossbred animals (Angus background crossed with Hereford, Charolais, Sim-Angus, Brangus) born between 2015 and 2016 and raised on toxic fescue. The animals were also genotyped at an approximate density of 50,000 SNPs. Complete blood counts (CBC) were obtained the blood samples and heritabilities for 15 peripheral blood parameters were estimated. For the CBC traits that were measured, heritabilities ranged from low to moderate (0.02 to 0.35). Based on current findings, a substantial genetic component for some CBC parameters exists and selection could be effective at improving these traits. Further research will estimate genetic correlations between peripheral blood parameters, weaning weight and average daily gain (ADG) with the intention of identifying correlated traits to be used in commercial selection programs.