Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T09:31:47.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Genetics of lactation persistency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2018

H. H. Swalve  and
N. Gengler
H. H. Swalve
Affiliation:
Institut für Tierzucht und Haustiergenetik der Universität Göttingen, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany
N. Gengler
Affiliation:
Fonds National Belge de la Recherche Scientifique et Unité de Zootechnie, Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium
Get access

Abstract

Lactation persistency, often simply called persistency, in general can be defined as the ability to maintain yields during the lactation. Persistency has an impact on food costs, health, and fertility. Of these three components affected by persistency, the impact of persistency on health, i.e. metabolic stress of the cow leading to health problems, may be most important nowadays. Numerous suggestions for criteria of persistency exist. Often simple ratios of part-lactation yields, e.g. the ratio of yield in the first and last 100 days of lactation, have been used. New approaches have used results from the application of random regression test day models developed for the genetic evaluation of yield traits. Many studies unfortunately have neglected the effect of gestation on persistency but acknowledged that an improved persistency should lead to an improved reproductive performance. Both relationships should be considered in genetic analyses and recommendations for improvement of management decisions. Today the correct description of persistency plays a prominent rôle to obtain correct genetic evaluations based on test day yields. But, although apparently trivial, a direct genetic analysis of lactation persistency and even more an inclusion of this trait into selection programmes clearly is a complicated task. A reason for this, amongst others, is that management strategies for feeding during the lactation and handling of the reproductive performance that are most often not recorded, are likely to mask the real persistency. Future studies on the genetics of persistency should also seek a strong interaction of geneticists and physiologists as persistency is fundamentally confounded with the problem of metabolic stress. Today, a recommendation of the inclusion of persistency in selection programmes appears to be premature and more studies, e. g. on the association of persistency with longevity, could aid in this process.

Type
Research Article
Information
BSAP Occasional Publication , Volume 24: Metabolic stress in dairy cows , 1999 , pp. 75 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Batra, T. R., Lin, C. Y., McAllister, A. J., Lee, A. J., Roy, G. L., Veselý, J. A., Wauthy, J. M. and Winter, K. A. 1987. Multitrait estimation of genetic parameters of lactation curves in Holstein heifers. Journal of Dairy Science 70: 2105–2111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Danell, B. 1982. Studies on lactation yield and individual test-day yields of Swedish dairy cows. III. Persistency of milk yield and its correlation with lactation yield. Acta Agricultura; Scandinavica 32:93–101.Google Scholar
Dekkers, J. C. M., Jamrozik, J., Ten Haag, J. H., Schaeffer, L. R. and Weersink, A. 1996. Genetic and economic evaluation of persistency in dairy cattle. Proceedings of the international workshop on genetic improvement of functional traits in cattle, Gembloux, Belgium. Interbull bulletin no. 12, pp. 97–102.Google Scholar
Dekkers, J. C. M., Ten Haag, J. H. and Weersink, A. 1998. Economic aspects of persistency of lactation in dairy cattle. Livestock Production Science 53:237–252.Google Scholar
Druet, T. 1998. Prédiction précoces de valeurs génétiques de survie de bovins laitiers. Travail de fin d’étude, Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux, Belgium.Google Scholar
Ducrocq, V. and Sölkner, J. 1998. “The Survival Kit V3.0” — A package for large analyses of survival data. Proceedings of the sixth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Armidale, Vol. 27, pp. 447–448.Google Scholar
Ferris, T. A., Mao, I. L. and Anderson, C. R. 1985. Selecting for lactation curve and milk yield in dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 68:1438–1448.Google Scholar
Gengler, N. 1990. Etude de la persistance des productions laitières pendant la lactation chez la vache Pie-Noire. Travail de fin d’étude, Vacuité Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux, Belgium.Google Scholar
Gengler, N. 1995. Use of mixed models to appreciate the persistency of yields during the lactation of milk cows. Ph.D. thesis, Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux, Belgium.Google Scholar
Gengler, N., Keown, J. F., Van Vleck, L. D. 1995. Various persistency measures and relationships with total, partial and peak milk yields. Brazilian Journal of Genetics 18: 237–243.Google Scholar
Gengler, N. 1996. Persistency of lactation yields: a review. Proceedings of the international workshop on genetic improvement of functional traits in cattle, Gembloux, Belgium. Interbull bulletin no. 12, pp. 87–96.Google Scholar
Gravert, H.-O. and Baptist, R. 1976. Breeding for persistency of milk yield. Livestock Production Science 3: 27–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossman, M. and Koops, N. J. 1988. Multiphasic analysis of lactation curves in dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 71: 1598–1608.Google Scholar
Grossman, M., Kuck, A. L. and Norton, H. W. 1986. Lactation curves of purebred and crossbred dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 69:195–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, Z. 1998. Modelle zur Beschreibung der Laktationskurve des Milchrindes und ihre Verwendung in Modellen zu Zuchtwertschätzung. Dissertation, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.Google Scholar
Hill, W. G. 1998. Inferences from evolutionary biology to livestock breeding. Proceedings of the sixth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Armidale, vol. 23, pp. 32–39.Google Scholar
Jamrozik, J., Jansen, G., Schaeffer, L. R. and Liu, Z. 1998. Analysis of persistency of lactation calculated from a random regression test day model. Proceedings of the 1998 Interbull meeting, Rotorua, New Zealand, January 18-19. Interbull bulletin no. 17, pp. 64–69.Google Scholar
Jamrozik, J., Schaeffer, L. R. and Dekkers, J. C. M. 1997a. Genetic evaluation of dairy cattle using test day yields and a random regression model. Journal of Dairy Science 80: 1217–1226.Google Scholar
Jamrozik, J., Schaeffer, L. R., Liu, Z. and Jansen, G. 1997b. Multiple trait random regression test day model for production traits. Proceedings of the 1997 Interbull meeting, Vienna, Austria, August 28-29. Interbull bulletin no. 16, pp. 43–47.Google Scholar
Johansson, I. and Hansson, A. 1940. Causes of variation in milk and butterfat yield in dairy cows. Kungl. Landtbr. Akab. Tidskr. 79:1–127.Google Scholar
Kandzi, A. and Glodek, P. 1990. Die Effizienz der Selektion aufgrund der Einsatzleistungen von Erstkalbskühen. II. Mitteilung: Die Beziehungen zwischen Einsatzleistungen und der Persistenz der Laktation. Züchtungskunde 62: 118–128.Google Scholar
Keown, J. F., Everett, R. W., Emptet, N. B. and Wadell, L. H. 1986. Lactation curves. Journal of Dairy Science 69: 769–781.Google Scholar
Lean, I. J., Galland, J. C. and Scott, J. L. 1989. Relationships between fertility, peak milk yields and lactational persistency in dairy cows. Theriogenology 31:1093–1103.Google Scholar
Leukkunen, A. 1985. Genetic parameters for the persistency of milk yield in the Finnish Ayrshire cattle. Zeitschrift für Tierzüchtung und Züchtungsbiologie 102: 117–124.Google Scholar
Madsen, O. 1975. A comparison of some suggested measures of persistency of milk yield in dairy cows. Animal Production 20:191–197.Google Scholar
Masselin, S., Sauvant, D., Chapoutot, P. and Milan, D. 1987. Les modèles d’ajustement des courbes de lactation. Annales de Zootechnie 36:171–206.Google Scholar
Meyer, K. 1998. Modelling ‘repeated’ records: Covariance functions and random regression models to analyse animal breeding data. Proceedings of the sixth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Annidale, vol. 25, pp. 517–520.Google Scholar
Meyer, K. and Hill, W. G. 1997. Estimation of genetic and phenotypic covariance functions for longitudinal or ‘repeated’ records by restricted maximum likelihood. Livestock Production Science 47:185–200.Google Scholar
Olori, V. E. 1997. Utilisation of daily milk records in genetic evaluation of dairy cattle. Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Ptak, E. and Schaeffer, L. R. 1993. Use of test day yields for genetic evaluation of dairy sires and cows. Livestock Production Science 34:23–34.Google Scholar
Reents, R., Reinhardt, F. and Abramowsky, M. 1996. Calculation of persistency proofs from the German multi-lactation model for production traits. Proceedings of the international workshop on genetic improvement of functional traits in cattle, Gembloux, Belgium. Interbull bulletin no. 12, pp. 103–107.Google Scholar
Sanders, H. G. 1930. The analysis of the lactation curve into maximum yield and persistency. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 20: 145–185.Google Scholar
Schaeffer, L. R. 1994. Multiple-country comparison of dairy sires. Journal of Dairy Science 77:2671–2678.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schaeffer, L. R. and Dekkers, J. C. M. 1994. Random regressions in animal models for test-day production in dairy cattle. Proceedings of the fifth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Guelph, vol. 18, pp. 443–446.Google Scholar
Schneeberger, M. 1981. Inheritance of lactation curve in Swiss Brown cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 64:475–483.Google Scholar
Shanks, R. D., Berger, P. J., Freeman, A. E. and Dickinson, F. N. 1981. Genetic aspects of lactation curves. Journal of Dairy Science 64:1852–1860.Google Scholar
Sigurdsson, A., Banos, G. and Philipsson, J. 1996. Estimation of genetic (co)variance components for international evaluation of dairy bulls. Acta Agriculturæ Scandinavica, Section A, Animal Science 46: 129–136. 46: 129–136.Google Scholar
Sölkner, J. and Fuchs, W. 1987. A comparison of different measures of persistency with special respect to variation of test-day milk yields. Livestock Production Science 16: 305–319.Google Scholar
Swalve, H. H. 1994a. Estimation of breeding values using testday models. Proceedings of the open session of the interbull annual meeting, August 5-6, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Interbull bulletin no. 10. Google Scholar
Swalve, H. H. 1994b. Genetic relationships between testday milk production and persistency in dairy cattle performance records. Proceedings of the fifth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Guelph, vol. 18, pp. 443–446.Google Scholar
Swalve, H. H. 1995a. Test day models in the analysis of dairy production data — a review. Archiv für Tierzucht 38: 591–612.Google Scholar
Swalve, H. H. 1995b. Genetic relationships between dairy lactation persistency and yield. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 112: 303–311.Google Scholar
Swalve, H. H. 1998. Use of test day records for genetic evaluation. Proceedings of the sixth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Armidale, vol. 23, pp. 295–302.Google Scholar
VanRaden, P. M. 1998. Best prediction of lactation yield and persistency. Proceedings of the sixth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Armidale, vol. 23, pp. 347–350.Google Scholar
Wood, P. D. P. 1967. Algebraic model of the lactation curve in cattle. Nature 216: 164–165.Google Scholar