Genomic evaluation of Holstein cattle in Antioquia (Colombia): a case study

• Main Authors: Julián Echeverri, Juan C Zambrano, Albeiro López Herrera
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad de Antioquia 2014-12-01
• Series: Revista Colombiana de Ciencias Pecuarias
• Subjects: calidad de leche; características de la leche; marcadores genéticos; selección genómica; valor de cría
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0120-06902014000400009&lng=en&tlng=en

Background: DNA markers have been widely used in genetic evaluation throughout the last decade due to the increased reliability of breeding values (BV) they allow, mainly in young animals. Objective: to compare breeding values estimated through the conventional method (best linear unbiased predictor, BLUP) with methods that include molecular markers for milk traits in Holstein cattle in Antioquia (Colombia). Methods: predictions of breeding values were performed using three methods: BLUP, molecular best linear unbiased predictor (MBLUP), and Bayes C. The breeding values were compared using Spearman's correlation coefficient and linear regression coefficient. Results: all Spearman correlation coefficients between breeding values obtained by different methods were greater than 0.5, while linear regression coefficients ranged between -2.10 and 1.58. Conclusions: prediction of breeding values through BLUP, MBLUP and Bayes C showed different results in terms of magnitude from the estimated values. However, animal ranking according to breeding values was not significantly different.