10 October 2007

2 minute read

Oceania

Speaking at the farm improvement company’s annual meeting in Hamilton today, Stuart Bay said the livestock industry was on the verge of the greatest revolution since the introduction of artificial breeding in the 1950s.

"Our bovine gene discovery has rapidly moved forward into Genomic Selection," he said.

"It is seen by many as the Holy Grail for livestock breeding."

Genomic selection is based on DNA profiling. LIC has been investing in DNA research, with a view to enhancing a bull’s genetic merit by selecting superior DNA, for more than 10 years.

"This involves bovine DNA analysis using the power of computers and statistics in quite a different way to which the search for individual genetic markers was originally envisaged."

Over the past five years genetic marker technology has progressed significantly as scientists have learned more about the bovine genome. A new technology, called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), has emerged as the dominant technology as a result of the extensive DNA mapping in the bovine genome project. Until recently only a few thousand SNP markers had been identified, now hundreds of thousands of markers are available.

LIC says Genomic Selection will benefit farmers in many ways including providing better genetics through genetic gain from a shorter generation interval and new diagnostic tools for cow and heifer selection.

"With Genomic selection farmers will be able to more quickly breed cows to meet changing requirements within the industry and Genomic Selection bulls will have higher reliabilities than traditional breeding methods for some low heritability or late expressed traits, such as fertility and longevity.

"Given the advances expected with the change to Genomic Selection the rewards for farmers and LIC are potentially very large," Stuart Bay said.

LIC plans to introduce a small team of genomically selected bulls for the 2008 mating season.

TheCattleSite News Desk