Sur la voie de l’élevage laitier de précision en Wallonie - 2. ValLait, OptiVal et OptiVal+ : valoriser des données du contrôle des performances

Conference (2013, February)

Genetic variability of the mid-infrared prediction of lactoferrin content in milk for Walloon Holstein first-parity cows

in Livestock Science (2013), 151(2-3), 158-162

The objective of this study was to assess the genetic variability of the mid-infrared prediction of lactoferrin content in milk (pLF) in Holstein first-parity cows. Variance components were estimated by ... [more ▼]

The objective of this study was to assess the genetic variability of the mid-infrared prediction of lactoferrin content in milk (pLF) in Holstein first-parity cows. Variance components were estimated by Average Information Restricted Maximum Likelihood using a single-trait test-day random regression animal model. The dataset included 395,287 test-day records from 67,178 cows in 1190 herds from the Walloon Region of Belgium. Average pLF was 164.89. mg/L and the standard deviation was 76.07. mg/L. Frequency distribution for pLF was slightly asymmetrical, and pLF seemed to increase almost linearly all along the first lactation after a sharp decrease in early lactation. Genetic variance of pLF increased with days in milk within lactation while the permanent environmental variance was the highest in early lactation, then decreased to become lower than genetic variance at 50 days in milk, and finally increased in the last lactation stages. The pLF was a moderately heritable trait. Daily heritability of pLF was the lowest at 5 days in milk (0.19), then increased to reach a maximum at 260 days in milk (0.44), and finally decreased for the last stages of lactation (0.35 at 365 days in milk). Results from this study indicated that pLF is variable and heritable over the lactation and therefore it could be changed by genetic selection. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. [less ▲]

Le BCS: un outil de gestion de la fertilité

Article for general public (2012)

Mid-infrared prediction of milk titratable acidity and its genetic variability in first-parity cows

Conference (2012, August 27)

Coagulation of milkhas a direct effect on cheese yield. Among several parameters, titratable acidity of milk (TA) influences all the phases of milk coagulation. In order to study the genetic variability ... [more ▼]

Coagulation of milkhas a direct effect on cheese yield. Among several parameters, titratable acidity of milk (TA) influences all the phases of milk coagulation. In order to study the genetic variability of this trait on a large scale, mid-infrared (MIR) chemometric methods were used to predict TA. A total of 507 milk samples collected in the Walloon Region of Belgium from individual cows were analyzed using a MIR spectrometer. TA was recorded as Dornic degree. An equation to predict TA from milk MIR spectrum was developed using partial least squared regression after a first derivative pre-treatment applied to the spectra to correct the baseline drift. During the calibration process, 45 outliers were detected and removed from the calibration set. The TA mean of the final calibration set was 16.62 (standard deviation (SD) = 1.80). The coefficient of determination (R²) was 0.82 for the calibration with a standard error (SE) of 0.76. A cross-validation (cv) was performed (R²cv = 0.81 with SEcv = 0.80). This equation was then applied on the spectral database generated during the Walloon routine milk recording. The variances components were estimated by REML using single-trait random regression animal test-day model. The dataset used included 33,717 records from 9,191 Holstein first-parity cows; the TA mean was 17.05 (SD = 1.35) and TA ranged from 12.83 to 20.87. Estimated daily heritabilities ranged from 0.43 at 5th day in milk to 0.59 at 215th day in milk indicating potential of selection. Further research will study phenotypic and genetic correlations between TA and milk production traits. [less ▲]

Genetics and genomics of energy balance measured in milk using mid-infrared spectroscopy

Poster (2012, August)

Mid-infrared prediction of milk titratable acidity and its genetic variability in first-parity cows

in Book of Abstracts of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (2012, August)

Coagulation of milkhas a direct effect on cheese yield. Among several parameters, titratable acidity of milk (TA) influences all the phases of milk coagulation. In order to study the genetic variability ... [more ▼]

Coagulation of milkhas a direct effect on cheese yield. Among several parameters, titratable acidity of milk (TA) influences all the phases of milk coagulation. In order to study the genetic variability of this trait on a large scale, mid-infrared (MIR) chemometric methods were used to predict TA. A total of 507 milk samples collected in the Walloon Region of Belgium from individual cows were analyzed using a MIR spectrometer. TA was recorded as Dornic degree. An equation to predict TA from milk MIR spectrum was developed using partial least squared regression after a first derivative pre-treatment applied to the spectra to correct the baseline drift. During the calibration process, 45 outliers were detected and removed from the calibration set. The TA mean of the final calibration set was 16.62 (standard deviation (SD) = 1.80). The coefficient of determination (R²) was 0.82 for the calibration with a standard error (SE) of 0.76. A cross-validation (cv) was performed (R²cv = 0.81 with SEcv = 0.80). This equation was then applied on the spectral database generated during the Walloon routine milk recording. The variances components were estimated by REML using single-trait random regression animal test-day model. The dataset used included 33,717 records from 9,191 Holstein first-parity cows; the TA mean was 17.05 (SD = 1.35) and TA ranged from 12.83 to 20.87. Estimated daily heritabilities ranged from 0.43 at 5th day in milk to 0.59 at 215th day in milk indicating potential of selection. Further research will study phenotypic and genetic correlations between TA and milk production traits. [less ▲]

Using fatty acid contents in milk to improve fertility of dairy cows?

Poster (2012, February 10)

Improving dairy cow fertility by means of genetic selection has become increasingly important over the last years in order to overcome the declining cow fertility. This study investigated whether the ... [more ▼]

Improving dairy cow fertility by means of genetic selection has become increasingly important over the last years in order to overcome the declining cow fertility. This study investigated whether the fatty acids profile in milk could be used as an early predictor of genetic merit for fertility. Genetic covariances among 17 fatty acid contents in milk and the number of days from calving to conception were estimated from 29,792 first-parity Holstein cows. Results substantiated the unfavorable relationship among fertility and body fat mobilization in early lactation. Also, about 75% of the genetic variability of fertility was explained by the variability in milk fatty acids profile over the lactation indicating that these traits could be used to supplement genetic evaluations for fertility. [less ▲]

Use of milk fatty acids to substitute for body condition score in breeding purposes

in Journal of Dairy Science (2012), 95, Suppl. 2

Genome-wide association study for milk fatty acid composition using cow versus bull data

Poster (2012)

Genetics of the mid-infrared predicted lactoferrin content in milk of dairy cows

in Book of Astracts of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (2012)