The Impact of Measuring Adult Fleece Traits With Genomic Selection on Economic Gain in Merino Selection Indexes

Title
The Impact of Measuring Adult Fleece Traits With Genomic Selection on Economic Gain in Merino Selection Indexes
Publication Date
2013
Author(s)
Swan, Andrew
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8048-3169
Email: aswan@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:aswan
Brown, Daniel
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4786-7563
Email: dbrown2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:dbrown2
Editor
Editor(s): Nicolas Lopez Villalobos
Type of document
Conference Publication
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics (AAABG)
Place of publication
Armidale, Australia
UNE publication id
une:14534
Abstract
Stochastic simulation of a Merino sheep breeding program showed that measurement of adult fleece weight and fibre diameter, the two key adult production traits in Merino sheep, increased economic gain compared to measuring yearling expressions of the traits alone. Comparing three different selection indexes, gain increased in fleece weight by up to $1.10 per ewe per year over 10 years of selection, depending on the importance of the trait in the selection index. For fibre diameter the increase in gain was lower, to a maximum of $0.70 per ewe per year, because genetic correlations between yearling and adult performance are higher for fibre diameter. There was little benefit in multiple adult measurements of these traits, and since the Australian sheep industry's evaluation system already accommodates one adult measurement, most of the gains possible can be realised by breeders. Genomic selection of young rams resulted in further increases in gain when combined with adult measurements, particularly for fleece weight.
Link
Citation
Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics, v.20, p. 233-236
ISSN
1328-3227
ISBN
9780473260569
Start page
233
End page
236

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