Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Genetics and Animal Breeding » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #346634
Title: A “genetics first” approach to selection

Author
item Bennett, Gary
item Snelling, Warren
item McDaneld, Tara

Submitted to: World Congress of Genetics Applied in Livestock Production
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/5/2018
Publication Date: 5/7/2018
Citation: Bennett, G.L., Snelling, W.M., McDaneld, T.G. 2018. A “genetics first” approach to selection. In: Proceedings World Congress on Genetics Applied in Livestock Production, 11-16 Feb 2018. Auckland, New Zealand. Volume Theory to Application 2, p. 317. Available: www.wcgalp.org.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A different approach for using genomic information in genetic improvement is proposed. Past research in population genetics and animal breeding combined with information on sequence variants suggest the possibility that selection might be able to capture a portion of inbreeding and heterosis effects without crossbreeding. The approach forgoes steps needed to select for a specific trait or suite of traits, instead focusing on selecting parents with the most functional alleles without knowing their effects. Thus, it is termed a “genetics first” approach to selection. The initial stage of a cattle selection experiment that tests this approach is described.