Association of Phenotypic Markers of Heat Tolerance with Australian Genomic Estimated Breeding Values and Dairy Cattle Selection Indices

Richard Osei-Amponsah; Frank R Dunshea; Brian J Leury; Archana Abhijith; Surinder S Chauhan

doi:10.3390/ani13142259

Association of Phenotypic Markers of Heat Tolerance with Australian Genomic Estimated Breeding Values and Dairy Cattle Selection Indices

Animals (Basel). 2023 Jul 10;13(14):2259. doi: 10.3390/ani13142259.

Authors

Richard Osei-Amponsah^{1

2}, Frank R Dunshea^{1

3}, Brian J Leury¹, Archana Abhijith¹, Surinder S Chauhan¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia.
² Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra P.O. Box LG 226, Ghana.
³ Faculty of Biological Sciences, The University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.

Abstract

Dairy cattle predicted by genomic breeding values to be heat tolerant are known to have less milk production decline and lower core body temperature increases in response to elevated temperatures. In a study conducted at the University of Melbourne's Dookie Robotic Dairy Farm during summer, we identified the 20 most heat-susceptible and heat-tolerant cows in a herd of 150 Holstein Friesian lactating cows based on their phenotypic responses (changes in respiration rate, surface body temperature, panting score, and milk production). Hair samples were collected from the tip of the cows' tails following standard genotyping protocols. The results indicated variation in feed saved and HT genomic estimated breeding values (GEBVs) (p ≤ 0.05) across age, indicating a potential for their selection. As expected, the thermotolerant group had higher GEBVs for HT and feed saved but lower values for milk production. In general, younger cows had superior GEBVs for the Balanced Performance Index (BPI) and Australian Selection Index (ASI), whilst older cows were superior in fertility, feed saved (FS), and HT. This study demonstrated highly significant (p ≤ 0.001) negative correlations (-0.28 to -0.74) between HT and GEBVs for current Australian dairy cattle selection indices (BPI, ASI, HWI) and significant (p ≤ 0.05) positive correlations between HT and GEBVs for traits like FS (0.45) and fertility (0.25). Genomic selection for HT will help improve cow efficiency and sustainability of dairy production under hot summer conditions. However, a more extensive study involving more lactating cows across multiple farms is recommended to confirm the associations between the phenotypic predictors of HT and GEBVs.

Keywords: genomic selection; genotyping; heat stress; robotic dairy; selection index.

Grants and funding

This study was partially funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (https://www.dfat.gov.au/ (accessed on 1 August 2019)) through the Australia Awards Africa Postdoctoral Fellowship (Identification Number: GH –2018 – 005) awarded to Dr Richard Osei-Amponsah, and by the Richard Nicolas Trust Fund 2018 awarded by the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, to Dr Surinder Singh Chauhan.