Towards assessing indirect genetic effects in dairy cattle.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Social interactions in a dairy herd may impact an individual's production, e.g., milk yield. These interactions can have a genetic component, so-called indirect genetic effects (IGE). IGEs contribute to heritable variation in other species, but studies on IGEs in cows are limited. Knowledge is needed on appropriate methods to monitor social interactions in cows. We evaluated with simulations whether we can estimate IGEs in cows. We used milk yield as an example trait, and we assessed how herd size, direct and indirect genetic correlations, and magnitude of IGE affected the variance component estimations and breeding value accuracies. We investigated the importance of knowing the contact intensity and direction by either including or ignoring them in the estimation model.

SUBMITTER: Hansson I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12278552 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature