Genetic control of reproduction in dairy cows
- 1 January 2014
- journal article
- conference paper
- Published by CSIRO Publishing in Reproduction, Fertility and Development
- Vol. 26 (1), 1-11
- https://doi.org/10.1071/rd13304
Abstract
The advent of AI has markedly improved the production potential of dairy cows in all systems of production and transformed the dairy industry in many countries. Unfortunately, for many years breeding objectives focused solely on milk production. This resulted in a major decline in genetic merit for fertility traits. In recent years, the underlying physiological mechanisms responsible for this decline have started to be unravelled. It is apparent that poor genetic merit for fertility traits is associated with multiple defects across a range of organs and tissues that are antagonistic to achieving satisfactory fertility performance. The principal defects include excessive mobilisation of body condition score, unfavourable metabolic status, delayed resumption of cyclicity, increased incidence of endometritis, dysfunctional oestrus expression and inadequate luteal phase progesterone concentrations. On a positive note, it is possible to identify sires that combine good milk production traits with good fertility traits. Sire genetic merit for daughter fertility traits is improving rapidly in the dairy breeds, including the Holstein. With advances in animal breeding, especially genomic technologies, to identify superior sires, genetic merit for fertility traits can be improved much more quickly than they initially declined.Keywords
This publication has 82 references indexed in Scilit:
- Identification of a Nonsense Mutation in CWC15 Associated with Decreased Reproductive Efficiency in Jersey CattlePLOS ONE, 2013
- A Deletion in the Bovine FANCI Gene Compromises Fertility by Causing Fetal Death and BrachyspinaPLOS ONE, 2012
- Genome-wide associations for fertility traits in Holstein–Friesian dairy cows using data from experimental research herds in four European countriesAnimal, 2012
- A genome‐wide association study using selective DNA pooling identifies candidate markers for fertility in Holstein cattleAnimal Genetics, 2010
- Defining Postpartum Uterine Disease and the Mechanisms of Infection and Immunity in the Female Reproductive Tract in Cattle1Biology of Reproduction, 2009
- Reduced Fertility in High‐yielding Dairy Cows: Are the Oocyte and Embryo in Danger? Part I The Importance of Negative Energy Balance and Altered Corpus Luteum Function to the Reduction of Oocyte and Embryo Quality in High‐yielding Dairy Cows*Reproduction in Domestic Animals, 2008
- The relationship between uterine pathogen growth density and ovarian function in the postpartum dairy cowTheriogenology, 2007
- Trends in milk production, calving rate and survival of cows in 14 Irish dairy herds as a result of the introgression of Holstein-Friesian genesAnimal Science, 2006
- Effect of dietary energy source on energy balance, production, metabolic disorders and reproduction in lactating dairy cattleReproduction Nutrition Development, 2005
- Genetic Relationships among Body Condition Score, Body Weight, Milk Yield, and Fertility in Dairy CowsJournal of Dairy Science, 2003