Estimating breeding values for animals with genotype only when genetic group effects are important

Abstract

A method was developed to estimate breeding values for animals with genotype only by back-solving post analysis from the single step genomic BLUP model. A key feature of the method is a regression on genomic relationships to approximate genetic group contributions for animals without pedigree. In a test application it was found that flock genetic means for a range of key traits in Australian Merino sheep could be estimated with high accuracy from SNP genotypes from a sample of 20 animals (correlations usually exceeding 0.8). The genetic group approximation substantially improved accuracy for several traits, and helped to reduce bias in predicting flock genetic means across all traits.