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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #302429
Title: Including cow information in genomic prediction of Holstein dairy cattle in the US

Author
item Cooper, Tabatha
item Wiggans, George
item Vanraden, Paul

Submitted to: World Congress of Genetics Applied in Livestock Production
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/21/2014
Publication Date: 8/17/2014
Citation: Cooper, T.A., Wiggans, G.R., Van Raden, P.M. 2014. Including cow information in genomic prediction of Holstein dairy cattle in the US. World Congress of Genetics Applied in Livestock Production. Vancouver, Canada, Aug. 17–22. 3 pp.

Interpretive Summary: In recent years, female genomic testing has become a popular way of making breeding decisions. The number of females genotyped in the US has increased to 12,650 per month comprising 74% of the total genotypes received in 2013. Many countries with genomic evaluations do not include cows. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of cow and bull traditional information in the genomic evaluation system. The addition of cow information increased genomic reliability by 0.4 percentage points across all traits. The use of cow information only in the predictor population can be used for genomic predictions. However, the inclusion of cow data with the large number of high reliability bulls in the US system has only a small benefit.

Technical Abstract: The number of females genotyped in the US has increased to 12,650 per month comprising 74% of the total genotypes received in 2013. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of cow and bull traditional information in the genomic evaluation system. Cutoff studies to determine gains in reliability due to the addition of genomic information were compared for three predictor populations, cows only, bulls only and cows and bulls. The addition of cow information to that of bulls increased genomic reliability by 0.4 percentage points across all traits. The use of cow information only in the predictor population can be used for genomic predictions. However, the addition of cow data to data from the large number of high reliability bulls in the US system has only a small benefit.