University of Alberta Application of Genetic Markers for Evaluation Of
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University of Alberta Application of genetic markers for evaluation of residual feed intake in beef cattle by Fidalis Denis Nagwalla Mujibi A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Animal Science Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science ©Fidalis Denis Nagwalla Mujibi Fall 2010 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. 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Examining Committee Dr Stephen Moore, Agricultural Food and Nutritional Sciences Dr Zhiquan Wang, Agricultural Food and Nutritional Sciences Dr Guohui Lin, Computing Science Dr Denny Crews, Animal Science, Colorado State University Dr John Basarab, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Government of Alberta Dr Jack Dekkers, Animal Science, Iowa State University Dedicated to the Nagwalla family ABSTRACT Improving feed efficiency has become a top priority in beef cattle production because of the rapidly increasing cost of feed provision. However, because of the expense associated with collecting individual animal feed intake data, only a relatively small number of animals have been tested, leading to low accuracies of estimated breeding values (EBV). Three studies were conducted to demonstrate the usefulness of including DNA marker information in RFI genetic evaluations. In the first study, the effect of period of testing on RFI was assessed. Beef cattle steers were tested for feed intake, with different cohorts tested in the fall-winter and winter-spring seasons. Seasonal differences were detected although these were confounded by differences in age and weight among the seasons. Additionally, mean EBV accuracy obtained was low, ranging between 0.47 and 0.51, implying that strategies to increase this accuracy are necessary. In the 2nd study, a suite of genetic markers predictive of RFI, DMI and ADG were pre-selected using single marker regression analysis and the top 100 SNPs analyzed further in 5 replicates of the training data to provide prediction equations for RFI, DMI and ADG. Cumulative marker phenotypes (CMP) were used to predict trait phenotypes and accuracy of prediction ranged between 0.007 and 0.414. Given that this prediction accuracy was lower than the polygenic EBV accuracy, the CMP would need to be combined with EBV for effective marker assisted selection. In study 3, genomic selection (GS) theory and methodology were used to derive genomic breeding values (GEBV) for RFI, DMI and ADG. The accuracy of prediction obtained with GEBV was low, ranging from 0.223 to 0.479 for marker panel with 200 SNPs, and 0.114 to 0.246 for a marker panel with 37,959 SNPs, depending on the GS method used. The results from these studies demonstrate that the utility of genetic markers for genomic prediction of RFI in beef cattle may be possible, but will likely be more effective if a tool that combines GEBV with traditional BLUP EBV is used for selection. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To him that giveth life, knowledge and understanding, I bow in gratitude and reverence. To my family, my biggest fans, thank you very much. My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor Dr Stephen Moore, who saw to it that I got every opportunity possible to explore and grow in my academic experience. You have been more than a friend and mentor. Special thanks to Dr Denny Crews for introducing me to the world of quantitative genetic and genetic evaluation. You have been my greatest mentor and I owe so much to your guidance. Dr John Basarab accept my sincere gratitude for schooling me about RFI, and the many discussions, insights and directions you have provided,. Thank you Dr Donald Nkrumah for the many heated arguments, the lively conversations, and many suggestions you’ve provided. To Dr Graham Plastow, for critical appraisal of my manuscripts, I appreciate. Thank you Dr Zhiquan Wang for the many discussions we held about emerging issues in quantitative genetics and animal breeding. Dr Laki Goonewardene, thank you for help with statistical analyses. To Drs Paul Stothard and Jason Grant for help with Perl programming; to my wonderful colleagues at the University of Alberta’s Bovine Genomic program, thanks for your support and friendship. Lastly, to my friends who made my experience in Edmonton bearable and fun-filled. Patrick Asante, Michael Mbogga, Eric and Pam Amulaku, Muasya Musau, Kenya Kondo, Aparna Prasad, Katayoon Navabi, Monica Leon-Quintero, Lucianne Almeida, Hinako Ishikawa, plus many more (don’t feel left out), you guys are precious and I will always cherish you. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. xi LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. xv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................. xvii CHAPTER 1 : Literature review .................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Measuring feed efficiency ......................................................... 3 1.1.2 Estimation of phenotypic (RFI) and genetic (RFIG) residual feed intake ................................................................................. 4 1.1.3 Economic implications of residual feed intake (RFI) estimation ................................................................................................... 7 1.1.4 Genetic evaluation of residual feed intake (RFI) ...................... 9 1.1.5 Prospects for genetic selection of residual feed intake (RFI) . 12 1.1.6 Indicator traits for residual feed intake (RFI) ........................ 14 1.1.7 The molecular basis for residual feed intake (RFI) ................ 16 1.2 OVERALL OBJECTIVES ........................................................... 18 1.3 LITERATURE CITED ................................................................. 21 CHAPTER 2 : Season of testing and its effect on feed intake and efficiency in growing beef cattle....................................................... 31 2.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 31 2.2 MATERIALS AND METHODS ................................................. 32 2.2.1 Animal resource and data collection ...................................... 32 2.2.2 Trait derivations...................................................................... 34 2.2.3 Statistical analysis .................................................................. 35 2.3 RESULTS ...................................................................................