There are two ways to maximize profit:

a) improve animal husbandry practices and the

environment, and
b) manipulate the genetic make-up of the herd

The Breeding Objectives

1. Assessment of the present and future market
demand as well as the relative prices of the traits
contributing to the price of the product
2. The characteristics and ease of measuring the
traits
3. The cost of the selected traits on the part of the
breeder and the end-user
 Primary
Meat Draft
Survival rate Strength and stamina
Feed efficiency Survival and resistance
Carcass quality Maintenance requirement
Growth rate
Cost of production
Types of traits
Qualitative and Quantitative

Qualitative traits are discreet in nature and are

normally controlled by few pairs of genes

Presence or absence of horn

Haircoat color
Humped or humpless
With or without dewlap
 Quantitative traits are continuous in nature and
follow the normal distribution

1. reproductive - calving interval, conception rate,

gestation, etc.
2. productive - growth rate, mature weight, weaning
weight, etc.
3. carcass - tenderness, dressing percentage, etc.
4. survivability - resistance to stress, heat tolerance,
etc.
Fundamentals of genetic improvement
Mendellian genetics - gene inheritance
Population genetics - how the genes behave in a population
and therefore with genotype frequency and gene frequency

White bull (R1) x white cow (R1) - white

White bull (R1) x red cow (R2) - roan
Roan bull (R1 R2) x Roan (R1 R2) - ¼ white (R1 R1)
½ roan (R1 R2)
¼ red (R2 R2)

Where there is dominance, the heterozygote is the same in

appearance as that of the homozygote
Population genetics - how the genes behave in a population

In a herd of 100 cattle, 80 are red and 20 black , then

phenotypic frequency is 0.8 red and for black is 0.2.

If the herd consists of 10 B1 B1 10 B1 B2 80 B2 B2

Genotype frequencies are
B1 B1 = 0.1 B1 B2 = 0.1 B2 B2 = 0.8.

Since genes are passed in gametes containing only one

allele at each locus
Then, there are 200 genes at the locus of which 30 are B1
and 170 B2.
Thus, the gene frequency of B1 is 0.15 and B2 is 0.85
 Male gametes
Gene frequency
0.15 B1 0.85 B2

0.15 B1 .0225 B1B1 .1275 B1B2

Female gametes
0.85 B2 .1275 B1B2 .7725 B2B2

Genotype frequencies in the next generation follows:

0.0225 B1 B1,
0.255 B1 B2
0.7225 B2 B2
Applying Hardy-Weinberg Law, where:
B1 is p and B2 is q and mating is at random
the genotype frequency is
p2 B1 B1
2pq B1 B2 and
q2 B2 B2
Forces which change gene frequency are:

a. Migration - the introduction of animals into a population.

b. Selection - some individuals leave more offspring than

the others.

c. Mutation - spontaneous change of a gene from one

form or allele to another.

d. Chance or inbreeding - causes animals to inherit genes

which are identical by descent.

The decline in the average performance associated with

reproduction and metabolic efficiency is known as
inbreeding depression.
Quantitative genetics - interaction between the genes and
the environment

P = G + E + (G x E)

Economic value of the trait

Heritability value of the trait
Remove the effects of environment
Tools for Genetic Improvement

1. Selection
Factors affecting response to selection are:
1. heritability of the trait
2. selection differential
3. generation length.

R = h2 x S
Ex. If the average weaning weight of cattle is 150 kg and
the selected animals as parents averaged 180 kg, then
S = 180 – 150 = 30 kg.
If the h2 = 0.5
then R = 0.5 x 30 = 15 kg

Prediction of selection differential

S= i x σ
where i = intensity of selection and
σ = standard deviation of the trait
Proportion selected i
100 % 0
90 0.2
80 0.35
70 0.5
60 0.65
50 0.8
40 0.97
30 1.16
20 1.4
10 1.76
5 2.06
2 2.42
1 2.64
Given: average weaning weight = 200 kg
σ = 30 kg.
If one half of the population is selected, then
S = 30 kg x .8 = 24 kg

It is more important to compute for the improvement in

response to selection per year (Ry) = R / L

where L = length in years of one generation or

average age of the parents when the
offspring was born.
Increase in selection response can be attained by:

1. increasing the heritability, where h2 = VG / (VG + VE).

2. Decrease generation length, where (Ry) = R / L

3. Increasing selection differential, where R = h2 x S

Based on information on relatives

1. Information from ancestors (pedigree)

2. Family (Information from full and half sibs)
efficient for traits with low heritability values
family size is large and
inbreeding is low.
3. Individual animals are selected based on the
performance of their offspring.
Breeding value is the value that an animal can
transmit to its offspring, expressed as deviations
from the mean.

Bull ADG of Deviation from Breeding

calves mean value
A 0.5 0.0 0.0
B 0.7 + 0.2 + 0.4
C 0.3 - 0.2 - 0.4
Mean 0.5
Mating systems

Random Mating - Mating individual animals w/o regards

to similarity of pedigree or relationship.
Outbreeding - Mating of individuals that are less closely
related than the average of the herd.

Inbreeding - Mating of individuals that are less

closely related than the average of the herd
Degree of outbreeding

Species crossing - an extreme form of outbreeding

where two species are mated. E.g. Cattle x Bison
Grading-up - mating between a purebred and an
indigenous or native cattle. The offspring is called a
grade.
Outcrossing - mating of individuals of the same breed
from different ancestors. E.g. Brahman cow x
Brahman bull
Crossbreeding. - mating between two distinct breeds
- accumulate the desirable traits or to
eliminate or reduce the undesirable traits
Benefits from crossbreeding:
Heterosis – performance of offspring better than the
average of both parents
Aa Bb Cc x Aa Bb Cc

Aa Bb CC
- generally small for a particular trait, but the effect on
the population is cumulative and therefore
significant

- greatest if parent breeds are genetically least

related.

- reduced when the same genetic material is found in

both sire and dam
Breed combination
taurus x indicus

Breed complimentary
medium-sized purebred bulls on small-sized
but fertile cows

To ensure benefits from crossbreeding:

Use either the terminal or the rotation system of
mating
Crossbreeding systems (A, B, C and D are different
breeds)

Two-breed or 2-line terminal (specific) cross:

♀ ♂
A x B

F1 - to market
Three-breed or 3-line terminal cross:

♀ ♂
A x B

♀ ♂
F1 (A x B) x C (terminal sire)

F2 - to market
Four-breed specific or double cross:

♀ ♂
(Brahman x Sahiwal) x (Hereford x Simmental)

Commercial F1 ♀ x Terminal F1

Offspring to market
Four-breed rotational crossing:

♀ ♂
A x B

♂ F1 ♀ ♂
to market Replacement (A x B) x C

Offspring
♂ ♀ ♂
to market replacement ((A x B) x C) x D

Offspring
♂ - to market
♀ - bred back to A
 Backcrossing - F1 female is mated back to one of the
parental breeds.
- consist of ¾ P1 + ¼ P2 + ½ of the heterosis.

Given:
Calving rate in P1 = 76%
P2 = 72%
B1 = 86%,
then F1 is better by 12% than the mean of the parents.
Expected calving rate is ¾ (76) + ¼(72) + ½ (12) = 81%.
Inbreeding - causes animals to inherit genes which are
identical by descent. It increases the frequency of
homozygotes

B x A A x C

(x1 x2) (x1 x2)

D E

G
(x1 x1) or (x2 x2)
Amount of inbreeding (F) is defined as the probability
that an individual animal inherits two genes which are
identical by descent

FG = ½ (n-1) (1 + FA)

B x A A x C

1 2

D E
3 4

G
FG = ½ (n-1) (1 + FA)
= ½ (4-1) (1 + 0)
= 0.125

Rate of inbreeding per generation (∆F)

= 1/ 8 n mI + 1/8 n f I

Given: n m = 2, n f = 100 and I = 1

∆F = 1/8(2)1 + 1/8(100)1
= 0.0625
Inbreeding coefficient (F)
F = 1 - (1 - ∆F)2
= 1 - (1 - .0625)2
= 0.1211
No. of bulls No. of cows ∆F F

2 40 .066 .288

4 100 .033 .152

4 1000 .031 .147

8 200 .016 .079

20 500 .006 .032

Expected Breeding Values

EBV is best used to compare the genetic

merit between two sires
also used to predict the outcome of the
mating a bull with known EBV with a herd of
cows

.
For example
if Bull A has an EBV of +12 for weaning weight
and mated 25 Brahman cows without EBV at
random
he will pass half of his genes to calves which is
equivalent to +6 kg weaning weight.
Assuming that the accuracy of the EBV’s is high,
this represents an additional 150 kg of weaning
weight (6 x 25).
EBVs of some selected Bulls
EBV's
Animal No.
BW WW YW
ANSA 496 2.4 11 18
5A 822 1.1 11 16
V8 751/4 1.1 16 15
SCC 2127 1.3 12 17
Average 1.5 11 16.5
 400 day 600 day
Animal No. Birth Wt. 200 day Wt. Wt. Wt.
EBV % EBV % EBV % EBV %
NESAY 005 0.7 65 7 62 14 56 18 52
NESAY006 1.1 60 11 59 16 52 21 47
NESAY 015 2 64 20 63 23 57 30 52
NESAY 016 2.5 64 22 63 25 57 20 50
NESAY 017 1.1 64 13 63 17 57 23 52
NESAY 019 1.5 63 10 62 15 55 20 50
NESAY 022 0.4 65 12 62 18 56 22 52
NESAY 027 1.3 64 9 63 14 57 18 52
NESAY 037 2.5 62 17 43 21 38 27 36
NESAY 041 0.9 63 11 57 16 51 21 47
Average 1.1 63.4 11 59.7 17 53.6 21 49