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Genetically more efficient Australian dairy cows and sheep are higher emitters of methane per unit of food

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posted on 2024-04-09, 02:37 authored by BJ Sepulveda, SK Muir, S Bolormaa, Iona MacLeodIona MacLeod, MI Knight, R Behrendt, LC Marett, MH Deighton, JB Garner, PJ Moate, WJ Wales, RO Williams, Hans Daetwyler, Benjamin CocksBenjamin Cocks, Jennie PryceJennie Pryce

Abstract: Both the dairy cattle and sheep industries face the simultaneous challenge of improving feed efficiency and reducing methane emissions. Genomic selection is a valuable tool to reduce residual feed intake (RFI) and reduce methane yield (MeY), which are widely used traits for estimating efficiency and emissions. However, it is important to know how selecting one of these traits would affect the other and this relationship has been contentious in the literature. Here we estimated the genetic correlations between RFI and MeY in 584 Holstein dairy cattle and 445 Australian Maternal Composite ewes using bi-variate genomic best linear unbiased prediction models. In both datasets, negative genetic correlations between RFI and MeY were found, which means that selecting more feed efficient animals would increase the amount of methane emitted per kg of dry matter intake. Diet could play a role in this relationship.

History

Publication Date

2022-12-31

Proceedings

Proceedings of 12th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP): Technical and species orientated innovations in animal breeding, and contribution of genetics to solving societal challenges

Editors

Veerkamp RF de Haas Y

Publisher

Wageningen Academic Publishers

Place of publication

Wageningen, The Netherlands

Pagination

4p. (p. 127-130)

ISBN-13

9789086869404

Name of conference

12th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP)

Location

Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Starting Date

2022-08-03

Finshing Date

2022-08-08

Rights Statement

© B.J. Sepulveda et al. 2022. This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

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