Genetic parameters for dry matter intake in primiparous Holstein, Nordic Red, and Jersey cows in the first half of lactation

Abstract

Dry matter intake (DMI) is a key component of feed efficiency in dairy cattle. In this study, we estimated genetic parameters of DMI over the first 24 lactation weeks in 3 dairy cattle breeds: Holstein, Nordic Red, and Jersey. In total, 1,656 primiparous cows (717 Holstein, 663 Nordic Red, and 276 Jersey) from Denmark, Finland, and Sweden were studied. For each breed, variance components, heritability, and repeatability for weekly DMI were estimated in 6 consecutive periods of the first 24 lactation weeks based on a repeatability animal model. Genetic correlations for DMI between different lactation periods were estimated using bivariate models. Based on our results, Holstein and Nordic Red cows had similar DMI at the beginning of lactation, but later in lactation Holstein cows had a slightly higher DMI than Nordic Red cows. In comparison, Jersey cows had a significantly lower DMI than the other 2 breeds within the first 24 lactation weeks. Heritability estimates for DMI ranged from 0.20 to 0.40 in Holsteins, 0.25 to 0.41 in Nordic Red, and 0.17 to 0.42 in Jerseys within the first 24 lactation weeks. Genetic and phenotypic variances for DMI varied along lactation within each breed and tended to be higher in the middle of lactation than at the beginning of the lactation. High genetic correlations were noted for DMI in lactation wk 5 to 24 in all 3 breeds, whereas DMI at early lactation (lactation wk 1 to 4) tended to be genetically different from DMI in the middle of lactation. The 3 breeds in this study might differ in their genetic variances for DMI, but the differences were not statistically significant in most of the studied periods. Breed differences for the genetic variance tended to be more obvious than for heritability. The potential breed differences in genetic variation for DMI should be considered in a future study using feed intake information from multiple breeds.

RNA-Seq transcriptomics and pathway analyses reveal potential regulatory genes and molecular mechanisms in high- and low-residual feed intake in Nordic dairy cattle

“…The data from this herd have previously been used in quantitative genetic studies regarding feed or dry matter intake [46]. The experimental animal procedures were approved by the Danish Animal Experimentation Inspectorate.…”

Is rumination time an indicator of methane production in dairy cows?

“…Cows had ad libitum access to TMR, and up to 3 kg of daily concentrate was offered to the cows inside the AMS to attract the animals to the AMS. Feed intake data used in this study were previously presented by Li et al (2016).…”

Reliability of breeding values for feed intake and feed efficiency traits in dairy cattle: When dry matter intake recordings are sparse under different scenarios

“…Previous studies on the genetic analysis of feed intake fitting test-day random regression models (RRM) have reported genetic associations ranging from −0.5 to 0.98 (Veerkamp and Thompson, 1999;Buttchereit et al, 2011;Manzanilla-Pech et al, 2014b;Li et al, 2018) between different DIM. Most of the results reported provided estimates of genetic associations between DMI during specific days, specific intervals, or specific periods (e.g., early-, mid-, and late-lactation periods; Manzanilla-Pech et al, 2014a;Tetens et al, 2014;Li et al, 2016). In general, DMI in early lactation is in low genetic correlation with that in mid to late lactation, whereas DMI within mid to late lactation is highly correlated (Manzanilla-Pech et al, 2014a,b).…”