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ARS Home » Plains Area » Miles City, Montana » Livestock and Range Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #361399
Research Project: Alleviating Rate Limiting Factors that Compromise Beef Production Efficiency

Location: Livestock and Range Research Laboratory

Title: Genomic evaluation of genotype by prenatal nutritional environment interaction for maternal traits in a composite beef cattle breed

Author
item Hay, El Hamidi
item Roberts, Andrew

Submitted to: Livestock Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/18/2019
Publication Date: 9/19/2019
Citation: Hay, E.A., Roberts, A.J. 2019. Genomic evaluation of genotype by prenatal nutritional environment interaction for maternal traits in a composite beef cattle breed. Livestock Science. 229:118-125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2019.09.022.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2019.09.022

Interpretive Summary: Economically important traits are under the control of both genetic and environmental factors and their interaction. Extensive research has been done on the impact of the environment on the performance of animals. However, little research has been specifically conducted on the extent of the interaction of the genotype with the prenatal “in utero” environment. In this study, we evaluated the existence and the extent of genotype by prenatal nutritional environment on maternal traits (birth weight, weaning weight and yearling weight) and also evaluate the change of gene effects across the different nutritional environments. The maternal genetic correlations and the breeding values of the animals demonstrated the existence of maternal genetic by prenatal nutritional environment interaction especially for birth weight and weaning weight.

Technical Abstract: Genes interact with both pre- and postnatal environments potentially affecting several important traits in beef cattle. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the existence of genotype x prenatal nutritional environment interaction using genomic information in growth traits, birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW) and yearling weight (YW) in a composite beef cattle breed (50% Red Angus, 25% Charolais, 25% Tarentaise). Dams were randomly assigned to be fed levels of harvested supplemental feed from Dec to March of each year that were expected to result in adequate (ADEQ) or marginal (MARG; ~ 61% of the supplemental feed provided to ADEQ) levels of protein based on average quality and availability of winter forage. This design resulted in two prenatal nutritional environments: MARG and ADEQ. A total of 3,020 records were used in a bivariate model treating each environment as a different trait. Genetic parameters for all three traits were estimated using genomic information. The direct genetic correlations between environment ADEQ and MARG were 0.97, 0.97 and 0.99 for BW, WW and YW respectively. On the other hand, the maternal genetic correlations between the two environments were 0.62, 0.41 and 0.73 for BW, WW and YW respectively. Furthermore, direct and maternal genomic estimated breeding values (GEBVs) using single step genomic BLUP were computed and the solutions of SNP markers were back solved from the resulting GEBVs to compare genomic regions associated with the two environments. The present study demonstrated the existence of maternal genetic by prenatal nutritional environment interaction especially for BW and WW in beef cattle.