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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 #399256
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: Single-step genomic predictions for crossbred Holstein and Jersey cows in the United States

Author
item CESARANI, ALBERTO - University Of Georgia
item LOURENCO, DANIELA - University Of Georgia
item BERMANN, MATIAS - University Of Georgia
item NICOLAZZI, EZEQUIEL - Council On Dairy Cattle Breeding
item Vanraden, Paul
item MISZTAL, IGNACY - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Journal of Dairy Science Communications
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/2/2023
Publication Date: 3/1/2024
Citation: Cesarani, A., Lourenco, D., Bermann, M., Nicolazzi, E., Van Raden, P.M., Misztal, I. 2024. Single-step genomic predictions for crossbred Holstein and Jersey cows in the United States. Journal of Dairy Science Communications. 5(2):124-128. https://doi.org/10.3168/jdsc.2023-0399.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3168/jdsc.2023-0399

Interpretive Summary: The number of genotypes of crossbred dairy animals is quickly increasing in the US. These genotypes could be added in a single-step genomic evaluation to increase the prediction accuracy of these animals. This study demonstrated that the inclusion of these genomic data does not hamper the evaluation of purebred animals, and single-step predictions can be successfully obtained for crossbreds.

Technical Abstract: In the dairy cattle sector, the number of crossbred genotypes increased in the last years, and therefore, the focus on providing accurate genomic evaluations for crossbred animals has also increased. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the feasibility of including crossbred genotypes in multi-breed, single-step GBLUP (ssGBLUP) evaluations. The Council of Dairy Cattle Breeding provided more than 47 million lactation records registered between 2000 and 2021 in purebred Holstein and Jersey and their crosses. A total of 27 million animals were included in the analysis, of which 1.4 million were genotyped. Milk, fat, and protein yields were analyzed in a 3-trait repeatability model using BLUP or ssGBLUP. The two models were validated using prediction bias and accuracy computed for genotyped cows with no records in the truncated dataset and at least one lactation in the complete dataset. Bias and accuracy were better in the genomic model than in the pedigree-based one, with accuracy for crossbred cows higher than those of purebreds. Our study shows that genotypes for crossbred animals can be included in a ssGBLUP analysis with their purebred ancestors to estimate GEBV in a single run.