Across-breed adjustment factors for expected progeny differences for carcass traits1

Breed effects and genetic parameter estimates for calving difficulty and birth weight in a multibreed population

Birth weight (BWT) and calving difficulty (CD) were recorded on 4,579 first-parity females from the Germplasm Evaluation Program at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC). Both traits were analyzed using a bivariate animal model with direct and maternal effects. Calving difficulty was transformed from the USMARC scores to corresponding -scores from the standard normal distribution based on the incidence rate of the USMARC scores. Breed fraction covariates were included to estimate breed differences. Heritability estimates (SE) for BWT direct, CD direct, BWT maternal, and CD maternal were 0.34 (0.10), 0.29 (0.10), 0.15 (0.08), and 0.13 (0.08), respectively. Calving difficulty direct breed effects deviated from Angus ranged from -0.13 to 0.77 and maternal breed effects deviated from Angus ranged from -0.27 to 0.36. Hereford-, Angus-, Gelbvieh-, and Brangus-sired calves would be the least likely to require assistance at birth, whereas Chiangus-, Charolais-, and Limousin-sired calves would be the most likely to require assistance at birth. Maternal breed effects for CD were least for Simmental and Charolais and greatest for Red Angus and Chiangus. Results showed that the diverse biological types of cattle have different effects on both BWT and CD. Furthermore, results provide a mechanism whereby beef cattle producers can compare EBV for CD direct and maternal arising from disjoined and breed-specific genetic evaluations.

Quantitative trait loci for organ weights and adipose fat composition in Jersey and Limousin back-cross cattle finished on pasture or feedlot

A QTL study of live animal and carcass traits in beef cattle was carried out in New Zealand and Australia. Back-cross calves (385 heifers and 398 steers) were generated, with Jersey and Limousin backgrounds. This paper reports on weights of eight organs (heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, spleen, gastro-intestinal tract, fat, and rumen contents) and 12 fat composition traits (fatty acid (FA) percentages, saturated and monounsaturated FA subtotals, and fat melting point). The New Zealand cattle were reared and finished on pasture, whilst Australian cattle were reared on grass and finished on grain for at least 180 days. For organ weights and fat composition traits, 10 and 12 significant QTL locations (P<0.05), respectively, were detected on a genome-wide basis, in combined-sire or within-sire analyses. Seven QTL significant for organ weights were found at the proximal end of chromosome 2. This chromosome carries a variant myostatin allele (F94L), segregating from the Limousin ancestry, and this is a positional candidate for the QTL. Ten significant QTL for fat composition were found on chromosomes 19 and 26. Fatty acid synthase and stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD1), respectively, are positional candidate genes for these QTL. Two FA QTL found to be common to sire groups in both populations were for percentages of C14:0 and C14:1 (relative to all FAs) on chromosome 26, near the SCD1 candidate gene.