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Perdomo-González DI, Sánchez-Guerrero MJ, Bartolomé E, Guedes dos Santos R, Molina A, Valera M. Designing an early selection morphological traits index for reproductive efficiency in Pura Raza Española mares. J Anim Sci 2024; 102:skad409. [PMID: 38118055 PMCID: PMC10762892 DOI: 10.1093/jas/skad409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/22/2023] Open
Abstract
The low rate of reproductive efficiency in horses may be linked to the equine industry's practice of maintaining breeding stock that stands out for its athletic or morphological performance but exhibits poor reproductive efficiency. In this study, the age at first foaling, age at last foaling, interval between first and second foaling, average interval between foaling, foaling number and reproductive efficiency, and their relationship with the morphological records in 19,758 Pura Raza Española (PRE) mares were analyzed. After a partial least squares analysis height at withers, lateral hock angle, dorsal-sternal diameter, perimeter of anterior cannon bone, angle of shoulder, thoracic perimeter, hip-stifle distance, and angle of croup were the most important traits related with reproductive traits in PRE mares. A multivariate animal model with both morphological and reproductive traits was applied, including age, geographical area, coat color, and average stud size in the decade of the mare's first foaling. The results indicate that reproductive selection is feasible, and is enhanced by the use of morphological traits, given the moderate to high magnitudes of heritability values in both types of traits, which oscillated between 0.1 (interval between first and second foaling) and 0.95 (height at withers). The resulting genetic parameters were used to develop a series of selection indexes based on morphological or morphological and reproductive combination traits to improve reproductive efficiency traits in PRE mares and thus compute the expected genetic response (EGR) for the different strategies. The increase in EGR, when comparing EGR using only reproductive traits as selection criteria vs. using a combined index of both morphological and reproductive traits, oscillated between 4.0% for the age at first foaling to 46.8% for the interval between first and second foaling. In addition, two precocity indexes showed positive EGR when the age at last foaling and the interval between first and second foaling, both with and without morphological traits, were used as selection criteria. Therefore, this analysis reveals that the preselection of reproductive traits based on morphological traits is possible in PRE mares. Ultimately, this knowledge will help breeders achieve genetic progress in reproductive traits, leading to healthier and more successful breeding outcomes in horses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davinia I Perdomo-González
- Departamento de Agronomía, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agromómica, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla 41013, Spain
| | - María J Sánchez-Guerrero
- Departamento de Agronomía, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agromómica, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla 41013, Spain
| | - Ester Bartolomé
- Departamento de Agronomía, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agromómica, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla 41013, Spain
| | - Rute Guedes dos Santos
- Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, Portalegre 7300-110, Portugal
- Research Centre for Endogenous Resource Valorization (VALORIZA), Portalegre 7300-555, Portugal
| | - Antonio Molina
- Departamento de Genética, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba 14014, Spain
| | - Mercedes Valera
- Departamento de Agronomía, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agromómica, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla 41013, Spain
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Lan Q, Deng Q, Qi S, Zhang Y, Li Z, Yin S, Li Y, Tan H, Wu M, Yin Y, He J, Liu M. Genome-Wide Association Analysis Identified Variants Associated with Body Measurement and Reproduction Traits in Shaziling Pigs. Genes (Basel) 2023; 14:522. [PMID: 36833449 PMCID: PMC9957351 DOI: 10.3390/genes14020522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
With the increasing popularity of genomic sequencing, breeders pay more attention to identifying the crucial molecular markers and quantitative trait loci for improving the body size and reproduction traits that could affect the production efficiency of pig-breeding enterprises. Nevertheless, for the Shaziling pig, a well-known indigenous breed in China, the relationship between phenotypes and their corresponding genetic architecture remains largely unknown. Herein, in the Shaziling population, a total of 190 samples were genotyped using the Geneseek Porcine 50K SNP Chip, obtaining 41857 SNPs for further analysis. For phenotypes, two body measurement traits and four reproduction traits in the first parity from the 190 Shaziling sows were measured and recorded, respectively. Subsequently, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) between the SNPs and the six phenotypes was performed. The correlation between body size and reproduction phenotypes was not statistically significant. A total of 31 SNPs were found to be associated with body length (BL), chest circumference (CC), number of healthy births (NHB), and number of stillborns (NSB). Gene annotation for those candidate SNPs identified 18 functional genes, such as GLP1R, NFYA, NANOG, COX7A2, BMPR1B, FOXP1, SLC29A1, CNTNAP4, and KIT, which exert important roles in skeletal morphogenesis, chondrogenesis, obesity, and embryonic and fetal development. These findings are helpful to better understand the genetic mechanism for body size and reproduction phenotypes, while the phenotype-associated SNPs could be used as the molecular markers for the pig breeding programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qun Lan
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
| | - Qiuchun Deng
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
| | - Shijin Qi
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
| | - Yuebo Zhang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
| | - Zhi Li
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
| | - Shishu Yin
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
| | - Yulian Li
- Xiang Dong Experiment Station, Hunan Provincial Pig Industrial Technology System, Xiangtan 411100, China
| | - Hong Tan
- Xiang Dong Experiment Station, Hunan Provincial Pig Industrial Technology System, Xiangtan 411100, China
| | - Maisheng Wu
- Xiang Dong Experiment Station, Hunan Provincial Pig Industrial Technology System, Xiangtan 411100, China
| | - Yulong Yin
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
- Key Laboratory of Agro-Ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center for Healthy Livestock and Poultry Production; Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Changsha 410125, China
| | - Jun He
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
| | - Mei Liu
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
- Kunpeng Institute of Modern Agriculture at Foshan, Foshan 528226, China
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