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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 #326456
Title: Improving production efficiency through genetic selection

Author
item Cole, John
item SPURLOCK, DIANA - Iowa State University

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2015
Publication Date: 6/28/2017
Citation: Cole, J.B., Spurlock, D.M. 2017. Improving production efficiency through genetic selection. In: Large Dairy Herd Management, 3rd ed. D. K. Beede, ed. American Dairy Science Association, Champaign, IL. p. 331-340.

Interpretive Summary: Genetic selection has been a very effective tool for achieving lasting gains in animal efficiency. The dairy industry has adopted new genetic technologies, such as artificial insemination using frozen semen and genomic selection very rapidly, which has helped ensure desirable genetic trends for economically important traits. While selection can have undesirable consequences, such as declines in important traits with unfavorable correlations to production traits and increases in inbreeding, the widespread availability of genomic information provides a very effective tool for managing such situations. There is increasing interest in efficiency because competition for feed and water is growing, which increases the cost of dairy production. The most efficient animals – those that maximize the production of milk components per unit of input – are the most desirable animals in a competitive global market.

Technical Abstract: The goal of dairy cattle breeding is to increase productivity and efficiency by means of genetic selection. This is possible because related animals share some of their DNA in common, and we can use statistical models to predict the genetic merit animals based on the performance of their relatives. Historically, production goals focused on the amount of milk, butterfat, and protein produced. This has changed over time as other traits, such as longevity and fertility, grew in importance. A substantial amount of work now focuses on production efficiency, often calculated as a function of feed intake or greenhouse gas emissions. There is increasing interest in production efficiency over total milk and solids because of greater competition for feed and water, as well as growing demand for animal protein from the growing global middle class. The goals of this chapter are to describe how genetic and genomic selection programs work, and to demonstrate how those tools may be used to produce dairy cattle that are efficient producers of food for human diets.