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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 #397501
Research Project: Increasing Accuracy of Genomic Prediction, Developing Algorithms, Selecting Markers, and Evaluating New Traits to Improve Dairy Cattle

Location: Animal Genomics and Improvement Laboratory

Title: Genomic evaluation of dairy cow feed efficiency and metabolic traits

Author
item PARKER GADDIS, KRISTEN - Council On Dairy Cattle Breeding
item VANDEHAAR, MICHAEL - Michigan State University
item COLE, JOHN - Former ARS Employee
item Vanraden, Paul

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/26/2022
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Genetic selection is one strategy that can be employed to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the dairy population, including improving metabolic health and feed efficiency. Developments in the past 10 to 15 years in breeding and genetics have led to the introduction of many new traits for selection. Among these are metabolic health traits such as ketosis, milk fever, and displaced abomasum resistance. More recently, several countries have introduced genetic evaluations for feed efficiency, including the US. The following will briefly describe these recently introduced traits related to dairy cow metabolism and feed efficiency. Selection indices will also be discussed as the ideal approach to incorporate numerous traits into a single value for overall genetic improvement.