Development of tools for genomic counseling aiming to increase the productivity of beef cattle herds

• Grant number: 18/00938-2
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Duration: November 01, 2018 - October 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Genetics and Improvement of Domestic Animals
• Principal Investigator: Raysildo Barbosa Lôbo
• Grantee: Raysildo Barbosa Lôbo
• Host Company: Centro Técnico de Avaliação Genética Ltda. - EPP
• CNAE: Criação de bovinos
• City: Ribeirão Preto
• Associated researchers: Fernando Sebastián Baldi Rey ; Luiz Antonio Framartino Bezerra ; Washington Luiz Olivato Assagra
• Associated scholarship(s): 18/25346-0 - Development of tools for genomic counseling aiming to increase the productivity of beef cattle herds, BP.PIPE

Abstract

The genetic evaluation of zebu cattle, mainly of the Nelore breed, has made important progress since the 1980s, when several breeding programs were created and established in Brazil. In these programs, focused mainly on beef cattle, the reproductive, growth and meat quality traits are used as selection criteria, indicating the superior animals that are candidates for selection. The selection process is guided by genetic evaluations that are performed through the animal model and the mixed model methodology called Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (BLUP). In the BLUP methodology, the increase in accuracy of the genetic values can be obtained with the inclusion of information from relatives provided by the records of kinship between the animals. However, this approach raises the probability of selecting collateral relatives for mating, which increases the rate of inbreeding and the loss of genetic variability in the population over the selective cycles. In this sense, the inbreeding coefficient has been estimated using information from pedigree data, and, more recently, with the development of high density panels of SNP markers (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism), there has been a growing interest in calculating the coefficients of inbreeding from molecular information. Considering the aforementioned, the present PIPE PHASE 1 Project aims to study the feasibility of the integration of pedigree and genomic information and to evaluate the inbreeding coefficient and the autozigosity using simulated data of beef cattle commercial populations, in order to employ this information for a better delineation and decision making in mating. In this way, it is intended to reduce inbreeding, increase the genetic variability of the next generations and optimize the genetic gain for the traits of economical and productive importance in programs of genetic improvement of beef cattle. It should be noted that this initial study PIPE PHASE 1 will open new perspectives for the later phases of the PIPE Project, where it will be considered the creation of new software programmed with algorithms capable of improve the genomic advice. (AU)