JDS (none)
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]
Author:
Keyword(s):
Year:  Vol:  Page: 


This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by VanRaden, P. M.
Right arrow Articles by Miller, R. H.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by VanRaden, P. M.
Right arrow Articles by Miller, R. H.
J. Dairy Sci. 89:2716-2721
© American Dairy Science Association, 2006.

Effects of Nonadditive Genetic Interactions, Inbreeding, and Recessive Defects on Embryo and Fetal Loss by Seventy Days

P. M. VanRaden and R. H. Miller

Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350

1 Corresponding author: paul{at}aipl.arsusda.gov

Lethal recessive genes that cause early embryo loss are difficult to detect. Nonreturn rate at 70 d after first insemination (NR) was evaluated as a trait of the embryo using 1,739,055 first-service records from 1,251 Holstein bulls represented as both service sires and sires of cows. Effects modeled included herd-year-season, parity of cow, sire of cow, service bull, interaction of service bull with sire of cow, and regression on inbreeding of embryo. Variances of service bull and sire of cow were estimated using REML and estimated effects were removed from the data. Interaction variance was estimated from the residuals using the tilde-hat approximation to REML. An additive relationship matrix was used for sire of cow and a dominance relationship matrix for the interaction term. Service bull effects were assumed constant across time and unrelated. For each 10% increase in inbreeding, NR percentage declined by an estimated 1%. A regression of this size could be explained by > 20% of animals carrying defects that cause early embryo loss. Of the total variance, service bull contributed 0.36%; sire of cow, 0.24% (heritability of 1.0%); and interaction, 0.18% (dominance variance of 2.8%). Numbers of records exceeded 500 for 50 bull pair subclasses. Predicted interactions that included effects of inbreeding ranged from -3.6% to +2.9%, compared with the mean NR of 56%. The largest negative interactions were not caused by known recessive defects. Complex vertebral malformation generally causes loss of pregnancies later in gestation, and few current bulls carry the gene for deficiency of uridine monophosphate synthase. Further study of the families with largest negative interactions could uncover new recessive defects.

Key Words: nonreturn rate · recessive defect · inbreeding · dominance







HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2006 by the American Dairy Science Association.