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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 #329688
Title: Genomic selection in dairy cattle: the USDA experience

Author
item Wiggans, George
item Cole, John
item Hubbard, Suzanne
item SONSTEGARD, TAD - Recombinetics, Inc

Submitted to: Annual Review of Animal Biosciences
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/16/2016
Publication Date: 2/1/2017
Citation: Wiggans, G.R., Cole, J.B., Hubbard, S.M., Sonstegard, T.S. 2017. Genomic selection in dairy cattle: The USDA experience. Annual Review of Animal Biosciences. 5:309-327.

Interpretive Summary: Genomic selection has revolutionized dairy cattle breeding. Official USDA genomic evaluations were first released in January 2009 for Holsteins and Jerseys, in August 2009 for Brown Swiss, in April 2013 for Ayrshires, and in April 2016 for Guernseys. Producers have accepted genomic evaluations as accurate indications of a bull’s eventual daughter-based evaluation. The integration of DNA marker technology and genomics into the traditional evaluation system has doubled the rate of genetic progress for traits of economic importance, decreased generation interval, increased selection accuracy, reduced previous costs of progeny testing, and allowed identification of recessive lethals.

Technical Abstract: Genomic selection has revolutionized dairy cattle breeding. Since 2000, assays have been developed to genotype large numbers of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) at relatively low cost. The first commercial SNP genotyping chip was released with a set of 54,001 SNP in December 2007. Over 15,000 genotypes were used to determine which SNP should be used in genomic evaluation of U.S. dairy cattle. Official USDA genomic evaluations were first released in January 2009 for Holsteins and Jerseys, in August 2009 for Brown Swiss, in April 2013 for Ayrshires, and in April 2016 for Guernseys. Producers have accepted genomic evaluations as accurate indications of a bull’s eventual daughter-based evaluation. The integration of DNA marker technology and genomics into the traditional evaluation system has doubled the rate of genetic progress for traits of economic importance, decreased generation interval, increased selection accuracy, reduced previous costs of progeny testing, and allowed identification of recessive lethals.