Divergent genotypes for fatness or residual feed intake in Angus cattle. 3. Performance of mature cows

Copping, K. J.; Accioly, J.M.; Deland, M. P. B.; Edwards, N. J.; Graham, John F.; Hebart, M. L.; Herd, RM; Jones, F. M.; Laurence, Michael; Lee, S. J.; Speijers, EJ; Pitchford, W. S.

doi:10.1071/an13295

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In terms of reproductive performance, no differences were found between high and low-RFI beef females with regard to pregnancy, calving and/or weaning rates (Basarab et al, 2007;Morris et al, 2014;Jones et al, 2016), although in other studies a lower pregnancy and calving rate (Basarab et al, 2011) and lower weaning rate (Copping et al, 2016;Hebart et al, 2016) was observed for low-RFI females. Donoghue et al (2011) and Hebart et al (2016) reported that low-RFI females calved later in the calving season than their high-RFI contemporaries; however, this was not evident in other studies (Morris et al, 2014).…”

Section: Maternal Traits and Fertilitymentioning

confidence: 56%

Invited review: Improving feed efficiency of beef cattle – the current state of the art and future challenges

Kenny

Fitzsimons

Waters

et al. 2018

Animal

174

135

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Improvements in feed efficiency of beef cattle have the potential to increase producer profitability and simultaneously lower the environmental footprint of beef production. Although there are many different approaches to measuring feed efficiency, residual feed intake (RFI) has increasingly become the measure of choice. Defined as the difference between an animal's actual and predicted feed intake (based on weight and growth), RFI is conceptually independent of growth and body size. In addition, other measurable traits related to energy expenditure such as estimates of body composition can be included in the calculation of RFI to also force independence from these traits. Feed efficiency is a multifactorial and complex trait in beef cattle and inter-animal variation stems from the interaction of many biological processes influenced, in turn, by physiological status and management regimen. Thus, the purpose of this review was to summarise and interpret current published knowledge and provide insight into research areas worthy of further investigation. Indeed, where sufficient suitable reports exist, meta-analyses were conducted in order to mitigate ambiguity between studies in particular. We have identified a paucity of information on the contribution of key biological processes, including appetite regulation, post-ruminal nutrient absorption, and cellular energetics and metabolism to the efficiency of feed utilisation in cattle. In addition, insufficient information exists on the relationship between RFI status and productivity-related traits at pasture, a concept critical to the overall lifecycle of beef production systems. Overall, published data on the effect of RFI status on both terminal and maternal traits, coupled with the moderate repeatability and heritability of the trait, suggest that breeding for improved RFI, as part of a multi-trait selection index, is both possible and cumulative, with benefits evident throughout the production cycle. Although the advent of genomic selection, with associated improved prediction accuracy, will expedite the introgression of elite genetics for feed efficiency within beef cattle populations, there are challenges associated with this approach which may, in the long-term, be overcome by increased international collaborative effort but, in the short term, will not obviate the on-going requirement for accurate measurement of the primary phenotype.

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Section: Maternal Traits and Fertilitymentioning

confidence: 56%

Invited review: Improving feed efficiency of beef cattle – the current state of the art and future challenges

Kenny

Fitzsimons

Waters

et al. 2018

Animal

174

135

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Traits related to size of the animals are likely to be more heritable than those traits related to muscling ability, and this may explain the lower estimates obtained in the current study when comparing the results to an age-constant EMA without accounting for differences in weight [ 41 ]. Copping et al [ 42 ], however, found that results were similar with and without adjustments to a constant weight. Arnold et al [ 43 ] estimated heritabilities for weight-constant ultrasound traits in Hereford steers of 0.26 for backfat measures and 0.25 for EMA, both of which were lower compared to values obtained in the current analysis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Parameters for Growth, Ultrasound and Carcass Traits in New Zealand Beef Cattle and Their Correlations with Maternal Performance

Weik

Morris

Garrick

et al. 2021

Animals

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Research has shown that enhancing finishing performance in beef cows is feasible; however, any adverse impact of selection strategies for finishing performance on the performance of the maternal herd should be taken into account. The aim of this research was to examine the inheritance of growth, ultrasound and carcass traits in finishing beef cattle and to evaluate their correlations with maternal performance traits. Data were collected from a nationwide progeny test on commercial New Zealand hill country farms comprising a total of 4473 beef cows and their progeny. Most finishing traits were moderately to highly heritable (0.28–0.58) with the exception of meat or fat colour and ossification (0.00–0.12). Ultrasound scan traits had high genetic correlations with corresponding traits measured at slaughter (rg = 0.53–0.95) and may be used as a selection tool for improved genetic merit of the beef carcass. Fat content determined via ultrasound scanning in the live animal or at slaughter in finishing cattle is positively genetically correlated with rebreeding performance (rg = 0.22–0.39) in female herd replacements and negatively correlated with mature cow live weight (rg = −0.40 to −0.19). Low-magnitude associations were observed between the genetic merit for carcass fat traits with body condition in mature cows.

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“…Increased weaning weight with increased milk energy yield is expected ( Clutter and Nielsen, 1987 ; Beal et al, 1990 ; Meyer et al, 1994 ), and cows with greater milk yield are expected to have greater DMI ( National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2016 ). The relationship between postweaning RFI and cow productivity in the form of weaning weight is mixed with most studies indicating no relationship ( Arthur et al, 2005 ; Basarab et al, 2007 ; Morris et al, 2014 ; Callum et al, 2018 ); however, Copping et al (2018) reported greater calf weaning weight for cows from a low RFI selection line, whereas, Hebart et al (2018) reported that cows from a high RFI selection line had greater weaning weight under high nutrition, but not under low nutrition. In the current dataset, heifer RFI was not correlated with PW for any parity ( Davis et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships among feed efficiency traits across production segments and production cycles in cattle

Lancaster

Davis

Rutledge

et al. 2021

Translational Animal Science

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Understanding the relationships between feed efficiency traits measured in different stages of production is necessary to improve feed efficiency across the beef value chain. The objective of this study was to evaluate relationships among feed efficiency traits measured as growing heifers and breeding females and in their progeny in three full production cycles, and relationships of dam residual feed intake (RFI) with lifetime and lifecycle cow efficiency traits. Data were collected on 160 mixed-breed heifers from 240 d of age to weaning of their third progeny, and postweaning performance of progeny until harvest in experiments initiated in 1953, 1954, 1959, 1964, 1969, and 1974. Individual feed offered was recorded daily, and feed refusals measured every 28 d. Milk yield was measured at 14-d intervals throughout lactation by machine or hand milking. Females and progeny were weighed at 28-d intervals and progeny were harvested at a constant endpoint of live grade or age depending upon the experiment. Feed efficiency traits of RFI and residual BW gain (RG) were computed as the residual from linear regression for developing heifers, dams (RFI and residual energy-corrected milk (RECM)), and postweaning progeny. Feed:gain ratio (FCR) was computed for developing heifers and postweaning progeny, and feed:milk energy ratio (FME) was computed for dams. Various measures of cow efficiency were calculated on either a life cycle or lifetime basis using ratios of progeny and dam weight outputs to progeny and dam feed inputs. Pearson correlations were computed among traits adjusted for a random year-breed-diet group effect. Heifer RFI (0.74) and RG (-0.32) were correlated (P ≤ 0.05) with dam RFI in parity 1 only, but were not correlated (P > 0.05) with dam RECM in any parity. Heifer RFI was correlated (P ≤ 0.05) with progeny RFI (0.17) in parity 3 only. Heifer FCR was not correlated with dam FME or progeny FCR in any parity. Dam RFI was weakly correlated (r = 0.25 to 0.36; P ≤ 0.05) among parities, whereas dam FME and RECM were strongly correlated (r = 0.49 to 0.72; P ≤ 0.05) among parities. Dam RFI in parity 1 and 2 was weakly correlated (r = -0.20 to -0.33; P ≤ 0.05) with cow efficiency ratios that included dam weight as an output, whereas dam RFI in parity 3 was not correlated with any cow efficiency ratio. In conclusion, feed efficiency traits were poorly correlated across production segments, but moderately repeatable across production cycles.

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Divergent genotypes for fatness or residual feed intake in Angus cattle. 3. Performance of mature cows

Cited by 9 publications

References 28 publications

Invited review: Improving feed efficiency of beef cattle – the current state of the art and future challenges

Invited review: Improving feed efficiency of beef cattle – the current state of the art and future challenges

Genetic Parameters for Growth, Ultrasound and Carcass Traits in New Zealand Beef Cattle and Their Correlations with Maternal Performance

Relationships among feed efficiency traits across production segments and production cycles in cattle

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