Jack Windig; Piter Bijma; Prof. Johan van Arendonk Roel Veerkamp
CoOperators:
Financer:
LNV
Start date:
01 April 2002
End date:
01 April 2006
Introduction:
In breeding value estimation, the idea is that a phenotype (P) is equal to the sum of a genotype (G, the breeding value of the animal) and the environment (E). This means, that for instance the milk production of a cow is equal to its breeding value plus the effect of the environment. Genotype by environment interaction (GxE), is assumed to be small and therefore ignored. This is the case for milk production traits, but for non-production traits little is known about GxE. The main objective of this research is to investigate GxE for health and fertility traits using models that estimate variance components as a function of environmental parameters.
Results:
Articles:
Calus, M. P. L., A. F. Groen and G. de Jong. 2002. Genotype x environment interaction for protein yield in Dutch dairy cattle as quantified by different models. J. Dairy Sci. 85:3115-3123. Calus, M. P. L. and R. F. Veerkamp. 2003. Estimation of environmental sensitivity of genetic merit for milk production traits using a random regression model. J. Dairy Sci. 86:3756-3764.
Graduation date:
17 March 2006
Graduation time and place:
16.00 in the Aula
Title thesis:
Estimation of genotype x environment interaction for yield, health and fertility in dairy cattle
