Genetic correlation between feet and leg type traits and claw health in Swedish dairy cattle
With the rapid increase in herd size over the last decade, it is imperative in modern dairy cattle farming to work for good claw health, both from an economic and animal welfare point of view. Claw health is maintained by managemental and genetical pre-cautions. Poor claw health may result in lamene...
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| Formato: | L3 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
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SLU/Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics (until 231231)
2008
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855571820301778944 |
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| author | Uggla, Emelie |
| author_browse | Uggla, Emelie |
| author_facet | Uggla, Emelie |
| author_sort | Uggla, Emelie |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | With the rapid increase in herd size over the last decade, it is imperative in modern dairy cattle farming to work for good claw health, both from an economic and animal welfare point of view. Claw health is maintained by managemental and genetical pre-cautions. Poor claw health may result in lameness (Murray et al,. 1996). Among hous-ing factors flooring is of high importance especially in loose housed animals as cows need to be able to commute comfortable between lying areas, feed troughs and milk-ing facilities to stay healthy. Claw diseases and lesions have been recorded by foot trimmers at maintenance foot trimming in Sweden since 1996 and is a potential new trait for genetic evaluations.
The aim of this study was to estimate genetic correlations between claw diseases (dermatitis, heel horn erosion, sole haemorrhage and sole ulcer) recorded by claw trimmers and some feet and leg type traits (rear leg side view, rear leg rear view, hock quality, bone structure and foot angle) measured by educated classifiers. The purpose was also to estimate heritabilites and genetic correlations among type traits. The data was based on observations from Swedish Holstein (SH) and Swedish Red (SR) in their first lactation. The records were collected for the Swedish Dairy Asso-ciation by claw trimmers and type trait classifiers from year 2000 to 2007 in 144 898 SH and 142 647 SR. Of these, 99 835 SH and 104 227 SR were scored for type traits while 65 789 SH and 58 457 SR were scored by claw trimmers.
The results show that the heritabilites for type traits were low to medium high for both breeds. Foot angle had the lowest heritability (0.11 for SH and 0.10 for SR) while bone structure had the highest heritability (0.23 for SH and 0.31 for SR). The genetic correlations were low for both breeds, with the lowest value of -0.001 (foot angle ver-sus bone structure) for SH and -0.02 (rear leg side view versus hock quality) for SR. The highest correlations of type traits were very high with 0.87 for SH and 0.92 for SR (bone structure versus hock quality). The correlations between type traits and claw disorders were low but in general higher for SR than SH. The highest correlations for SH were found between rear leg side view and the different claw disorders with a range between 0.13 to 0.28. For SR, the highest correlations were found between hock quality and bone structure and the different claw disorders, -0.10 to -0.31 and -0.17 to -0.24 respectively.
The heritabilites and genetic parameters for type trait data were similar to other inter-national studies. Some breed differences were found for genetic correlations between type traits and claw disorders. The genetic correlations were non-significantly differ-ent from zero for most traits in SH or low for SR Thus, indirect selection for im-proved claw health using type trait data was not found possible. Accordingly, it is of highest importance to continue recording of claw health as a direct way of genetic improvement of claw health instead of the indirect selection via type traits. |
| format | L3 |
| id | RepoSLU11168 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2008 |
| publishDateSort | 2008 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics (until 231231) |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics (until 231231) |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU111682017-09-26T10:57:38Z Genetic correlation between feet and leg type traits and claw health in Swedish dairy cattle Studier av genetiska samband mellan egenskaper mätta vid klövverkning och vid exteriörbedömning Uggla, Emelie genetic variation claw diseases dairy cattle With the rapid increase in herd size over the last decade, it is imperative in modern dairy cattle farming to work for good claw health, both from an economic and animal welfare point of view. Claw health is maintained by managemental and genetical pre-cautions. Poor claw health may result in lameness (Murray et al,. 1996). Among hous-ing factors flooring is of high importance especially in loose housed animals as cows need to be able to commute comfortable between lying areas, feed troughs and milk-ing facilities to stay healthy. Claw diseases and lesions have been recorded by foot trimmers at maintenance foot trimming in Sweden since 1996 and is a potential new trait for genetic evaluations. The aim of this study was to estimate genetic correlations between claw diseases (dermatitis, heel horn erosion, sole haemorrhage and sole ulcer) recorded by claw trimmers and some feet and leg type traits (rear leg side view, rear leg rear view, hock quality, bone structure and foot angle) measured by educated classifiers. The purpose was also to estimate heritabilites and genetic correlations among type traits. The data was based on observations from Swedish Holstein (SH) and Swedish Red (SR) in their first lactation. The records were collected for the Swedish Dairy Asso-ciation by claw trimmers and type trait classifiers from year 2000 to 2007 in 144 898 SH and 142 647 SR. Of these, 99 835 SH and 104 227 SR were scored for type traits while 65 789 SH and 58 457 SR were scored by claw trimmers. The results show that the heritabilites for type traits were low to medium high for both breeds. Foot angle had the lowest heritability (0.11 for SH and 0.10 for SR) while bone structure had the highest heritability (0.23 for SH and 0.31 for SR). The genetic correlations were low for both breeds, with the lowest value of -0.001 (foot angle ver-sus bone structure) for SH and -0.02 (rear leg side view versus hock quality) for SR. The highest correlations of type traits were very high with 0.87 for SH and 0.92 for SR (bone structure versus hock quality). The correlations between type traits and claw disorders were low but in general higher for SR than SH. The highest correlations for SH were found between rear leg side view and the different claw disorders with a range between 0.13 to 0.28. For SR, the highest correlations were found between hock quality and bone structure and the different claw disorders, -0.10 to -0.31 and -0.17 to -0.24 respectively. The heritabilites and genetic parameters for type trait data were similar to other inter-national studies. Some breed differences were found for genetic correlations between type traits and claw disorders. The genetic correlations were non-significantly differ-ent from zero for most traits in SH or low for SR Thus, indirect selection for im-proved claw health using type trait data was not found possible. Accordingly, it is of highest importance to continue recording of claw health as a direct way of genetic improvement of claw health instead of the indirect selection via type traits. Under det senaste decenniet har besättningsstorleken och andelen lösdriftbesättingar i svensk mjölkproduktion ökat kraftigt vilket ställer särskilt höga krav på en god klövhälsa. Dålig klövhälsa kan resultera i hälta (Murray et al,. 1996), vilket inverkar negativt på både ekonomi och på djurens välfärd. Kons klövhälsa påverkas dels av skötseloch miljöfaktorer och dels av genetiska faktorer. Särskilt i lösdrift är golvkvaliteten avgörande för kons förmåga att röra sig mellan vila, mat och mjölkning och för att hålla klövarna friska. Klövhälsa hos svenska kor har registrerats av klövvårdare i samband med rutinmässig klövverkning sedan 1996 och är nu aktuell för att användas vid avelsvärdering. Syftet med studien var att skatta genetiska parametrar för klövsjukdomar (klöveksem, klövröta, sulblödning och klövsulesår) och exteriöregenskaper (ben bakifrån, hasvinkel, haskvalitet, benbyggnad och fotvinkel) för att se om dessa var genetiskt korrelerarde. Materialet baserades på observationer från Svensk Holstein (SH) och Svensk röd boskap (SR) i deras första laktation insamlade av klövvårdare mellan åren 2003 och 2007 och av exteriörbedömare mellan åren 2000 och 2007. Totalt inkluderades 144 898 SH och 142 647 SR varav 99 835 SH och 104 227 SR som var exteriörbedömda och 65 789 SH och 58 457 SR där klövarna verkats och bedömts. Resultaten visade att arvbarheten för exteriöregenskaperna, för båda raserna, var låga till medelhöga med lägsta arvbarheten för fotvinkel (0.11 för SH och 0.10 för SR) och högsta arvbarheten för benbyggnad (0.23 för SH och 0.31 för SR). Korrelationerna mellan exteriöregenskaperna var låga för båda raserna med lägsta värdet -0.001 (fotvinkel mot benbyggnad) för SH och -0.02 (hasvinkel mot haskvalitet) för SR. Högsta värdet var mycket högt för benbyggnad mot haskvalitet med 0.87 för SH och 0.92 för SR. Korrelationerna mellan exteriöregenskap och klövsjukdom var generellt låga men högre för SR än SH. För SH var de starkaste korrelationerna mellan hasvinkel och de olika klövsjukdomarna (0.13 till 0.28). De starkaste korrelationerna för SR fanns mellan haskvalitet korrelerat till de olika klövsjukdomarna (-0.10 till -0.31) samt för benbyggnad korrelerat till de olika klövsjukdomarna (-0.17 till -0.24). Arvbarheten för och de genetiska korrelationerna mellan exteriöregenskaperna var samstämmiga med resultat från andra internationella studier. Vissa rasskillnader noterades för de genetiska korrelationerna mellan klöv- och exteriördata, där de flesta korrelationer för SH var icke signifikant skilda från noll, medan SR hade låga korrelationer mellan de olika egenskaperna. Resultaten visar att indirekt selektion för att få en bättre klövhälsa genom att avla för exteriöregenskaper inte är möjlig. Det är fortsatt viktigt att klövvårdare fortsätter att registrera klövsjukdomar då detta ger oss bättre information för genetisk förbättring av klövhälsan jämfört med indirekt selektion via exteriöregenskaper. SLU/Dept. of Animal Breeding and Genetics (until 231231) 2008 L3 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/11168/ |
| spellingShingle | genetic variation claw diseases dairy cattle Uggla, Emelie Genetic correlation between feet and leg type traits and claw health in Swedish dairy cattle |
| title | Genetic correlation between feet and leg type traits and claw health in Swedish dairy cattle |
| title_full | Genetic correlation between feet and leg type traits and claw health in Swedish dairy cattle |
| title_fullStr | Genetic correlation between feet and leg type traits and claw health in Swedish dairy cattle |
| title_full_unstemmed | Genetic correlation between feet and leg type traits and claw health in Swedish dairy cattle |
| title_short | Genetic correlation between feet and leg type traits and claw health in Swedish dairy cattle |
| title_sort | genetic correlation between feet and leg type traits and claw health in swedish dairy cattle |
| topic | genetic variation claw diseases dairy cattle |