Environmental Sensitivity in New Zealand Dairy Cattle
- 1 March 2007
- journal article
- Published by American Dairy Science Association in Journal of Dairy Science
- Vol. 90 (3), 1538-1547
- https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.s0022-0302(07)71639-9
Abstract
This study quantifies the extent of within-breed sire reranking for milk production traits in a range of environments encountered within New Zealand. Character states of herds were formed within the environmental ranges of herd fat plus protein (MS) yield, summer heat load index (HLI), herd size, and altitude. Single-trait and bivariate sire models across breeds were then applied for estimation of genetic parameters and genetic correlations between extreme character states. A low degree of sire reranking occurred, as measured by genetic correlations around 0.9, between herd environments that differed widely in MS yield (227 vs. 376 kg of MS per cow), and HLI (61.4 vs. 69.6). The HLI of 61.4 and 69.6 are approximately equivalent to average summer maximum temperatures of 19 and 25 degrees C at 80% humidity. Correlations of sire estimated breeding values in extreme character states were low, but only one was below an expected correlation accounting for the reliability of prediction. The results show the environment in New Zealand is not sufficiently diverse to warrant separate breeding schemes for different environments.Keywords
Funding Information
- Livestock Improvement Corporation and the Foundation for Research
This publication has 42 references indexed in Scilit:
- Simulation modelling of dairy cattle performance based on knowledge of genotype, environment and genotype by environment interactions: current statusAgricultural Systems, 2005
- Ozone profile differences between Europe and New Zealand: Effects on surface UV irradiance and its estimation from satellite sensorsJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2003
- Selection and phenotypic plasticity in evolutionary biology and animal breedingLivestock Production Science, 2002
- Genetic improvement in the presence of genotype by environment interactionAnimal Science Journal, 2002
- Adaptive phenotypic plasticity: consensus and controversyTrends in Ecology & Evolution, 1995
- Crossbreeding in farm animals. V. Analysis of crossbreeding plans with secondary crossbred generationsJournal of Animal Breeding and Genetics, 1995
- The effect of group size and space allowance on the agonistic and spacing behavior of cattleApplied Animal Behaviour Science, 1989
- Heritability of milk yield and composition at different levels and variability of productionAnimal Science, 1983
- Section A. Physiology. Cattle in a hot environmentJournal of Dairy Research, 1965
- The Sampling Variance of the Genetic Correlation CoefficientPublished by JSTOR ,1959