The aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters of 26 individual and four composite type traits in first parity Cika cows. An analysis of variance was performed with the generalized linear ...model procedure of the SAS/STAT statistical package, where the fixed effects of year of recording, cow's age at recording and days after calving as a linear regression were included in the model. The variance components for the direct additive genetic effect and the herd effect in all type traits were estimated using the REML method in the VCE-6 software package. The estimated heritabilities ranged from 0.42 to 0.67 for the measured body frame traits, from 0.36 to 0.80 for the scored autochthonous traits, from 0.11 to 0.61 for the scored body frame traits, and from 0.20 to 0.47 for the scored udder traits. The estimated heritabilities for the composite traits called "autochthonous characteristics", "muscularity", "body frame" and "udder" were 0.55, 0.19, 0.19, and 0.26, respectively. The estimated genetic correlations among the measured body frame traits were positive and high, while the majority of them among the scored body frame traits were low to moderate. The estimated proportions of variance explained by the herd effect for the composite traits "autochthonous characteristics," "muscularity," "body frame" and "udder" were 0.09, 0.28, 0.14, and 0.10, respectively. The estimated heritabilities for the type traits of first parity Cika cows were similar to those reported for other breeds where breeding values have been routinely predicted for a long time. All estimated genetic parameters are already used for breeding value prediction in the Cika cattle population.
While mitogenome mutations leading to pathological manifestations are rare, more than 200 such mutations have been described in humans. In contrast, pathogenic mitogenome mutations are rare in ...domestic animals and have not been described at all in cattle. In the small local Slovenian cattle breed Cika, we identified (next-generation sequencing) two cows with the T10432C mitogenome mutation in the ND4L gene, which corresponds to the human T10663C mutation known to cause Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). Pedigree analysis revealed that the cows in which the mutation was identified belong to two different maternal lineages with 217 individual cows born between 1997 and 2020. The identified mutation and its maternal inheritance were confirmed by Sanger sequencing across multiple generations, whereas no single analysis revealed evidence of heteroplasmy. A closer clinical examination of one cow with the T10432C mutation revealed exophthalmos, whereas histopathological examination revealed retinal ablations, subretinal oedema, and haemorrhage. The results of these analyses confirm the presence of mitochondrial mutation T10432C with homoplasmic maternal inheritance as well as clinical and histopathological signs similar to LHON in humans. Live animals with the mutation could be used as a suitable animal model that can improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of LHON and other mitochondriopathies.
Analysis of type traits of cika sires SIMČIČ, Mojca; ŠTEPEC, Miran; LOGAR, Betka ...
Acta agriculturae slovenica,
12/2015, Volume:
106, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The aim of the study was to analyse type traits in 330 Cika sires. Scoring system of Cika cattle includes measured, individual scored and composite scored traits. Individual scored traits are divided ...into two groups, autochthonousness and form. Three composite traits are autochthonousness, muscularity and form. Fixed part of the model was analysed by GLM procedure in SAS software package, which included the effect of the year and animal age on the scoring day as linear regression. On average, 14.6 months old sires were 117.1 cm high at withers. Immediately, at the end of the scoring procedure all sires were classified into Cika, Semi-Cika and Pinzgauer type, based on the height at withers and individual scored traits from the autochthonous group. This method of classification does not take into account the environmental effects. We found significant effects of the year of scoring and animal age on type traits and therefore on the classification into the type. Sires classification should be carried out after the type traits data evaluation and after the exclusion of environmental effects.
The aim of the study was to analyse type traits in 1,086 first-calving Cika cows. Statistical model was analysed by GLM procedure in SAS/STAT statistical package, which included the fixed effect of ...scoring year, and age at scoring and days after calving as linear regressions. First-calving cows were on average 126.5 cm high at the withers at the age of 33.9 months, which clearly shows that it belongs to small to medium body sized cattle. The largest proportion of the variability was explained in the measured traits of the body frame (0.14–0.17). The explained proportion of variability among individual traits of autochthonous was between 0.03 and 0.07, while 0.12 in the composite trait of autochthonous. We found out that type traits and therefore the classification of animals were significantly affected at least the following effects: the scoring year, age and stage of lactation. Classification of animals into the appropriate type, should therefore, be carried out after exclusion of the environmental effects. This would give a more accurate classification of Cika first-calving cows.
Renewed interest in heat stress effects on livestock productivity derives from climate change, which is expected to increase temperatures and the frequency of extreme weather events. This study aimed ...at evaluating the effect of temperature and humidity on milk production in highly selected dairy cattle populations across 3 European regions differing in climate and production systems to detect differences and similarities that can be used to optimize heat stress (HS) effect modeling. Milk, fat, and protein test day data from official milk recording for 1999 to 2010 in 4 Holstein populations located in the Walloon Region of Belgium (BEL), Luxembourg (LUX), Slovenia (SLO), and southern Spain (SPA) were merged with temperature and humidity data provided by the state meteorological agencies. After merging, the number of test day records/cows per trait ranged from 686,726/49,655 in SLO to 1,982,047/136,746 in BEL. Values for the daily average and maximum temperature-humidity index (THIavg and THImax) ranges for THIavg/THImax were largest in SLO (22–74/28–84) and shortest in SPA (39–76/46–83). Change point techniques were used to determine comfort thresholds, which differed across traits and climatic regions. Milk yield showed an inverted U-shaped pattern of response across the THI scale with a HS threshold around 73 THImax units. For fat and protein, thresholds were lower than for milk yield and were shifted around 6 THI units toward larger values in SPA compared with the other countries. Fat showed lower HS thresholds than protein traits in all countries. The traditional broken line model was compared with quadratic and cubic fits of the pattern of response in production to increasing heat loads. A cubic polynomial model allowing for individual variation in patterns of response and THIavg as heat load measure showed the best statistical features. Higher/lower producing animals showed less/more persistent production (quantity and quality) across the THI scale. The estimated correlations between comfort and THIavg values of 70 (which represents the upper end of the THIavg scale in BEL-LUX) were lower for BEL-LUX (0.70–0.80) than for SPA (0.83–0.85). Overall, animals producing in the more temperate climates and semi-extensive grazing systems of BEL and LUX showed HS at lower heat loads and more re-ranking across the THI scale than animals producing in the warmer climate and intensive indoor system of SPA.
The longevity of Slovenian Holstein population was analysed using survival analysis with a Weibull proportional hazard model. Data spanned the period between January 1991 and January 2010 for 116,200 ...cows from 3,891 herds. Longevity was described as the length of productive life – from first calving till culling or censoring. Records above the sixth lactation were censored to partially avoid preferential treatment. Statistical model included the effect of age at first calving, stage of lactation within parity, yearly herd size deviation, season defined as year, herd, and sire-maternal grandsire (mgs). Some effects had time varying covariates, which lead to 1,839,307 or on average 16 elementary records per cow. Herd and sire-maternal grandsire effects were modelled hierarchically. Pedigree for sires and maternal grandsires included 2,284 entries. Estimated variance between herds was 0.12, while between sire variance was 0.04. Heritability was evaluated at 0.14. Genetic trend for sires was unfavourable, but not significant. A further research is needed to define the required number of daughters per sire and the dynamics of genetic evaluation for sires whose majority of daughters still have censored records.
The objective of the study was to evaluate genotype by environment interaction (GxEI) for yield traits in Holstein, Simmental and Brown breed cattle in Slovenia using multiple trait analysis. Data ...from Slovenian milk-recording scheme was used. The lactation records on cows having first to third calving in the period 1990-2004 and milk, protein and fat yield in 305 days were studied. The variables used to characterize the environment were herd-year averages of each trait. The multiple trait analysis was done using the highest and lowest quartiles of the environments. To study the GxEI, animal model methodology and the genetic correlation between the traits were used. GxEI was generally smaller for fat and milk yield than for protein yield. The lowest genetic correlations between high and low environments were estimated for protein yield, especially in Simmental (0.81) and in Brown (0.86) breed. In Holstein the correlation was higher, 0.94. The genetic correlations for fat yield were 0.95 for Brown and Simmental breed and 0.96 for Holstein. For milk yield the estimated genetic correlations were 0.88, 0.92 and 0.96 in Brown, Simmental and Holstein breed, respectively. Differences between variance components obtained in low and high quartile result in the rank of heritabilities from 0.04 to 0.12 in low and from 0.12 to 0.22 in high quartile.
Namen raziskave je bil izvrednotiti genetske korelacije med velikostjo gnezda pri mladicah in pri starih svinjah. Analizirali smo število rojenih in število živorojenih pujskov od prve do šeste ...zaporedne prasitve. Skupno je bilo vključenih 24 334 prasitev pri pasmah švedska landrace (SL) in large white (LW), liniji 12 (SL × LW) in liniji 21 (LW × SL). Z modelom živali smo ocenili visoke genetske korelacije med velikostjo gnezda pri mladicah in starih svinjah tako za število rojenih (0,92) kot za število živorojenih pujskov v gnezdu (0,92), kar nam je služilo za obravnavo velikosti gnezda pri različnih zaporednih prasitvah kot ene lastnosti. Oceni heritabilitet za velikost gnezda pri mladicah ter pri starih svinjah sta višji za število rojenih (0,14) kot za število živorojenih pujskov (0,12). Dobljeni rezultati nakazujejo primernost ponovljivostnega modela za selekcijo velikosti gnezda v proučevani populaciji.
V raziskavo je bilo vključenih 46 960 prasitev pri svinjah pasme švedska landrace (SL) in large white (LW) ter F1 križankah teh pasem, liniji 12 (SL x LW) in liniji 21 (LW x SL). S ponovljivostnim ...modelom živali smo analizirali število rojenih in število živorojenih pujskov od prve do šeste zaporedne prasitve. Razliko med posameznimi genotipi smo obravnavali v obliki parametrov križanj. Proučevali smo maternalne komponente: aditivni maternalni vpliv, maternalni heterozis in aditivni vpliv stare matere, ki so bile obravnavane kot neodvisne spremenljivke. Prispevek aditivnega maternalnega vpliva k razliki med pasmama (SL-LW) je bil večji za število živorojenih (0,36) kot za število rojenih pujskov (0,09). Oceni maternalnega heterozisa, ki pojasnjujeta odstopanje linij od povprečja pasem, sta za število rojenih pujskov 0,69 in 0,72 za število živorojenih pujskov v gnezdu. Razlika med linijama (SL x LW-LW x SL) je zanemarljiva (0,06 za rojene in –0,03 za živorojene pujske).
PDF
