Jul 21, 2017 - Genomic selection for performance and reproduction traits in American mink. K. Karimi. 1. , M. Sargolzaei. 2,3. ,Y. Miar. 1. 1. Department of ...
ISAG 2017
MT25
36th International Society for Animal Genetics Conference 16th-21st July, 2017
Genomic selection for performance and reproduction traits in American mink K. 1Department
1 Karimi ,
M.
2,3 1 Sargolzaei ,Y. Miar
of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada; 2Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada; 3Semex Alliance, 5653 Highway 6 North, Ontario, Canada
Introduction
Conclusion
Mink production is one of the most important agricultural industries in Nova Scotia province of Canada that adds more than $100 million to provincial economy each year. Development of this economy depends on improving economically important traits through designing a phenotypic data collection system and using the latest genomic approaches to select superior animals. Genetic parameters estimation is necessary for genetic/genomic evaluation of animals. Therefore, phenotypic correlations between performance and reproduction traits were explored using bivariate animal models in an American mink population that genomic study will be applied to.
Relatively high phenotypic variation and moderate phenotypic correlation between the studied traits in American mink warrants further investigation to estimate their genetic parameters and to explore the possibility of genetic improvement in these traits through implementation of multi-trait genetic/genomic selection.
Objectives Short term • Estimation of heritability, genetic and phenotypic correlations for performance and reproduction traits • Implementation of genomic selection for performance and reproduction traits in American mink • Perform genome-wide association studies to identify genomic regions associated with performance and reproduction traits Long term • Evaluate the effectiveness of genomic selection in mink production systems • Design marker panels, which can explain significant variation for mentioned traits :
canadamink.ca/
canadamink.ca/
Material and Methods Measurements for performance and reproduction traits of 18,312 mink during the period of 2002-2016 were collected by Canadian Centre for Fur Animal Research (CCFAR) at Dalhousie University. A study to implement genomic selection for these traits on a subset of this population (2,500 mink) using genotyping-by-sequencing has been also initiated. Phenotypic correlations between birth weight, 3week weight, weaning weight, gestation length, number of born alive, number of dead kits after 24 hrs and number of weaned kits were estimated using procedures implemented in R software. (Co)variance components and genetic parameters were estimated using different univariate animal models including random effects (additive, maternal and litter), fixed effects (year, sex, age of mother and number of matings per breeding season) by ASREML 4.0 software (1,2). The best fitted models were used to estimate the direct and maternal heritabilities for each trait.
Results and Discussion Table 1: Descriptive statistics and direct heritabilities for performance and reproduction traits in American mink No. of records
Range
Standard Direct Mean deviation heritability
Gestation length (day)
2,267
32-75
46.3
4.8
0.28±0.04
Number of born alive
3,401
0-14
5.7
2.6
0.05±0.02
Number of dead kits after 24 hrs
3,398
0-13
0.98
1.54
0.12±0.02
Number of weaned kits
3,077
0-14
4.97
2.63
0.05±0.02
Birth weight (gr)
8,809
5-29
11.8
2.1
0.09±0.01
3-week weight (gr)
8,713
51-221
128.8
22.2
0.18±0.01
Weaning weight (gr)
8,514
102-646
366.1
70.2
0.22±0.01
Traits
Maternal heritability of body weight decreased from 0.31±0.06 at birth to 0.10±0.05 and 0.16±0.05 at 3-week and weaning age, respectively. These results indicate that genetic progress will be possible for body weight traits. Reproduction traits such as gestation length, number of born alive and number of weaned kits were not significantly (P
