Optimization of methodology for genomic selection of moderate and large dairy cattle populations
Authors: Weller Joel I. , Misztal Ignacy , Ron Micha 
Published: December 2021

The main objectives of this research was to detect the specific polymorphisms responsible for observed quantitative trait loci and develop optimal strategies for genomic evaluations and selection for moderate (Israel) and large (US) dairy cattle populations. A joint evaluation using all phenotypic, pedigree, and genomic data is the optimal strategy. The specific objectives were: 1) to apply strategies for determination of the causative polymorphisms based on the “a posteriori granddaughter design” (APGD), 2) to develop methods to derive unbiased estimates of gene effects derived from SNP chips analyses, 3) to derive optimal single-stage methods to estimate breeding values of animals based on marker, phenotypic and pedigree data, 4) to extend these methods to multi-trait genetic evaluations and 5) to evaluate the results of long-term genomic selection, as compared to traditional selection. Nearly all of these objectives were met. The major achievements were: The APGD and the modified granddaughter designs were applied to the US Holstein population, and regions harboring segregating quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified for all economic traits of interest. The APGD was able to find segregating QTL for all the economic traits analyzed, and confidence intervals for QTL location ranged from ~5 to 35 million base pairs. Genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV) for milk production traits in the Israeli Holstein population were computed by the single-step method and compared to results for the two-step method. The single-step method was extended to derive GEBV for multi-parity evaluation. Long-term analysis of genomic selection demonstrated that inclusion of pedigree data from previous generations may result in less accurate GEBV. Major conclusions are: Predictions using single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP) were the least biased, and that method appears to be the best tool for genomic evaluation of a small population, as it automatically accounts for parental index and allows for inclusion of female genomic information without additional steps. None of the methods applied to the Israeli Holstein population were able to derive GEBV for young bulls that were significantly better than parent averages. Thus we confirm previous studies that the main limiting factor for the accuracy of GEBV is the number of bulls with genotypes and progeny tests. Although 36 of the grandsires included in the APGD were genotyped for the BovineHDBeadChip, which includes 777,000 SNPs, we were not able to determine the causative polymorphism for any of the detected QTL. The number of valid unique markers on the BovineHDBeadChip is not sufficient for a reasonable probability to find the causative polymorphisms. Complete resequencing of the genome of approximately 50 bulls will be required, but this could not be accomplished within the framework of the current project due to funding constraints. Inclusion of pedigree data from older generations in the derivation of GEBV may result is less accurate evaluations.