Genetic Parameters of Resilience Indicators Across Growth in Beef Heifers and Their Associations With Weight, Reproduction, Calf Performance and Pre-Weaning Survival

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Rodrigues, Gustavo R. D. ; Valente, Julia P. S. ; Rezende, Vanessa T. ; Araujo, Luis F. C. ; Silvaneto, Joao B. ; Mota, Lucio F. M. ; Santana, Mario L. ; Canesin, Roberta C. ; Bonilha, Sarah F. M. ; Albuquerque, Lucia G. ; Mercadante, Maria E. Z. ; Cyrillo, Joslaine N. S. G.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF ANIMAL BREEDING AND GENETICS; v. N/A, p. 13-pg., 2025-06-23.

Abstract

In tropical extensive beef cattle systems, heifers raised on pasture are exposed to various environmental challenges that affect their growth and reproductive performance during the first breeding. Resilience indicators derived from deviations in longitudinal traits can quantify the magnitude of these challenges and the ability of an animal to recover after disturbances. Hence, this study aimed to estimate genetic parameters for resilience indicators derived from weight deviations across growth in Nellore heifers, and their genetic correlations with yearling weight (YW), reproductive traits, calf performance and pre-weaning survival (PWSc). Phenotypic records were available for 3072 heifers, while 3226 animals were genotyped with 383,856 SNP markers (after quality control). A total of 30,720 weight records were used for growth curve modelling across three developmental phases: yearling, first breeding and first calf weaning. The resilience indicators derived and analysed were as follows: (i) natural logarithm of residual variance (LnVar); (ii) lag-1 autocorrelation of residuals (rauto); and (iii) skewness of residuals. The weight, reproductive, calf performance and survival traits analysed were as follows: YW, weight at the beginning of the breeding season (WBS), heifer pregnancy (HP), calves birth weight (BWc), calves weaning weight (WWc), calves average daily gain from birth to weaning (ADGc) and PWSc. Genetic parameters were estimated using the ssGBLUP method under a Bayesian framework. Heritability estimates (h2) were highest for LnVar, ranging from 0.32 +/- 0.03 (calf weaning) to 0.42 +/- 0.03 (breeding). Moderate h2 values were observed for rauto (0.22 +/- 0.03 to 0.29 +/- 0.03), whereas skewness had low heritability (0.08 +/- 0.02 to 0.13 +/- 0.02). Genetic correlations (rg) between LnVar and weight traits were unfavourable. In contrast, rauto exhibited favourable correlations with YW (-0.29 +/- 0.08 to -0.50 +/- 0.08). LnVar at breeding showed favourable and moderate rg with HP (-0.37 +/- 0.10). All resilience indicators were favourably correlated with PWSc, with the strongest estimate observed for LnVar at calf weaning (-0.28 +/- 0.15). These findings provide novel insights into the genetic basis of resilience in growing beef heifers. LnVar and rauto, in particular, emerge as promising traits for selecting animals better adapted to environmental variability. Additionally, favourable genetic correlations with fertility and survival traits suggest that more resilient heifers are more likely to become pregnant during their first breeding season and raise calves with higher survival rates until weaning. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 22/15385-4 - GENOMIC REACTION NORM MODELS AND GENETIC NETWORK ANALYSIS EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF GENOTYPE X ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION ON FEED EFFICIENCY TRAITS IN NELORE CATTLE
• Grantee: João Barbosa da Silva Neto
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 24/05697-4 - Study of the indirect genetic effect of social interaction on traits obtained in feed efficiency tests of Nellore cattle
• Grantee: Júlia de Paula Soares Valente
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 17/50339-5 - Institutional research development plan of the Animal Science Institute (PDIp)
• Grantee: Lenira El Faro Zadra
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - State Research Institutes Modernization Program
• FAPESP's process: 23/11176-4 - Mapping candidates for lethal haplotypes and genomic regions associated with the occurrence of abortion and pre-weaning mortality in Nellore cattle
• Grantee: Gustavo Roberto Dias Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• FAPESP's process: 17/10630-2 - Genetic aspects of meat production quality, efficiency and sustainability in Nelore breed animals
• Grantee: Lucia Galvão de Albuquerque
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 24/04755-0 - 75th annual meeting of the European Animal Production Association
• Grantee: Joslaine Noely dos Santos Goncalves Cyrillo
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Meeting - Abroad
• FAPESP's process: 22/11852-7 - Structural equation modeling as a tool to interpret genotype-environment interaction and genome-wide association (GWAS) for growth and reproductive traits in Nellore heifers using whole-genome sequence data
• Grantee: Lúcio Flávio Macedo Mota
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral