Final Report Summary - UNICATTLE ID (Development of fast and cost efficient methodology for bovine parental verification and identification with DNA markers)
Animal breeding in Poland is an important part of the economy. Especially after joining the EU, Polish agriculture products are a significant part of the EU market of ecological products. The north - western part of the country has a very particular role in it. The level and intensity of agriculture production in this region is the highest in the country, and cattle is the most commonly used species. The role of the north - western region is crucial.
Genetic evaluation assesses the best estimate of the genetic content of an animal. The classic approach is to capitalise on knowledge of the pedigree. A genetic good male or female will have good offspring. Choosing genetically superior animals will create genetic trend, or, in other words, create a better producing population in the next generation. It is clear that information about the individual origin is important for breeding purposes. Information about parentage is also needed and required in terms of food product traceability. Another important issue is control over the health status of the herd, especially in terms of: mastitis, metabolic diseases and reproduction difficulties. Parental control might be done using blood group testing. For a long time this procedure has been used, however its rate of parentage exclusion is only 84 %. Nowadays modern DNA techniques can help to identify parentage (PI, parental identification). Parental assignment by means of DNA testing is becoming feasible. To be able to run this type of PI test DNA itself is needed and a set of DNA markers. In this project we decided to develop the entire strategy for PI based on the DNA markers.
Therefore the objectives of the project were:
1. developing a simple, fast and cost effective method for DNA extraction, based on the hair bulbs;
2. designing an efficient and cost effective microsatellite marker set which might be used across different cattle breeds;
3. developing a straightforward methodology for pedigree verification and / or identification.
Our goal was to derive cheap and simple technology to validate pedigree and, if and where necessary, identify missing pedigree. Our findings were:
- the proposed line of analysis and methodology works;
- good quality of DNA was obtained from the hair bulbs using the in house developed method;
- a group of 47 animals with their sires was successfuly analysed within this project.
In a simulation of a breeding program based on these 47 animals, we put the father of 5 animals to 'missing' (this is 11 %, the best estimate from literature); this reduced the genetic trend with a bit more than 3 % (in line with literature). In other words, if we allow for 11 % of missing / erratic sires in the breeding program, the genetic trend will be significantly reduced. Proper recording, checking and improving the pedigree will greatly improve genetic trend and prepare the organisation for new genomic tools to come.
Our recommendations are:
- to improve current pedigree recording;
- to sample, test and store genotypes of all potential bulls for bull production;
- to validate especially the bull-bull path;
- to exploit current technology to fill in the gaps of the bull-bull path.
Genetic evaluation assesses the best estimate of the genetic content of an animal. The classic approach is to capitalise on knowledge of the pedigree. A genetic good male or female will have good offspring. Choosing genetically superior animals will create genetic trend, or, in other words, create a better producing population in the next generation. It is clear that information about the individual origin is important for breeding purposes. Information about parentage is also needed and required in terms of food product traceability. Another important issue is control over the health status of the herd, especially in terms of: mastitis, metabolic diseases and reproduction difficulties. Parental control might be done using blood group testing. For a long time this procedure has been used, however its rate of parentage exclusion is only 84 %. Nowadays modern DNA techniques can help to identify parentage (PI, parental identification). Parental assignment by means of DNA testing is becoming feasible. To be able to run this type of PI test DNA itself is needed and a set of DNA markers. In this project we decided to develop the entire strategy for PI based on the DNA markers.
Therefore the objectives of the project were:
1. developing a simple, fast and cost effective method for DNA extraction, based on the hair bulbs;
2. designing an efficient and cost effective microsatellite marker set which might be used across different cattle breeds;
3. developing a straightforward methodology for pedigree verification and / or identification.
Our goal was to derive cheap and simple technology to validate pedigree and, if and where necessary, identify missing pedigree. Our findings were:
- the proposed line of analysis and methodology works;
- good quality of DNA was obtained from the hair bulbs using the in house developed method;
- a group of 47 animals with their sires was successfuly analysed within this project.
In a simulation of a breeding program based on these 47 animals, we put the father of 5 animals to 'missing' (this is 11 %, the best estimate from literature); this reduced the genetic trend with a bit more than 3 % (in line with literature). In other words, if we allow for 11 % of missing / erratic sires in the breeding program, the genetic trend will be significantly reduced. Proper recording, checking and improving the pedigree will greatly improve genetic trend and prepare the organisation for new genomic tools to come.
Our recommendations are:
- to improve current pedigree recording;
- to sample, test and store genotypes of all potential bulls for bull production;
- to validate especially the bull-bull path;
- to exploit current technology to fill in the gaps of the bull-bull path.