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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Genetics and Animal Breeding » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #303577
Title: Is there a genetic solution to bovine respiratory disease complex?

Author
item Kuehn, Larry
item LEACH, RICHARD - Genus
item McDaneld, Tara
item Keele, John
item Chitko-Mckown, Carol
item Jones, Shuna
item Thallman, Richard - Mark

Submitted to: World Congress of Genetics Applied in Livestock Production
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/21/2014
Publication Date: 8/22/2014
Citation: Kuehn, L.A., Leach, R.J., McDaneld, T.G., Keele, J.W., Chitko-Mckown, C.G., Jones, S., Thallman, R.M. 2014. Is there a genetic solution to bovine respiratory disease complex? In: Proceedings of the 10th World Congress of Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, August 17-22, 2014, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Paper No. 106. https://asas.org/wcgalp-proceedings.

Interpretive Summary: Bovine respiratory disease (BRDC) is the most costly disease in the feedlot industry. Several vaccines and management practices have been suggested to reduce its incidence, yet cattle continue to get sick. Genetic and genomic research may allow producers to develop animals that are resistant to bovine respiratory disease. Genetics will be an important component of an integrated system to reduce the incidence of BRDC. Continued research in this area is warranted. Researchers will need to focus on developing large resource populations and developing new indicator traits to increase the probability of success.

Technical Abstract: Bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC) is a complex multi-factor disease, which increases costs and reduces revenue from feedlot cattle. Multiple stressors and pathogens (viral and bacterial) have been implicated in the etiology of BRDC, therefore multiple approaches will be needed to evaluate and identify the genetic components associated with this disease. Once host genetic factors have been identified, genetic markers may bridge the information gap between feedlots and the seedstock sector facilitating improvement in host resistance. Management changes to reduce stress, improved vaccines, and sub-therapeutic and therapeutic use of antibiotics will continue to play key roles in managing BRDC. Recent whole genome association studies indicate that there is indeed genetic variation in components of BRDC, which can be exploited to enhance disease resistance. Correlated traits (vaccine response, assays for cell mediated immunity, lung lesions) will provide key information in probing genetics of disease resistance.