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Genetic variation in net feed efficiency in Hereford cattle and its association with other production traits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

R.M. Herd  and
S.C. Bishop
R.M. Herd
Affiliation:
Cattle and Beef CRC, University of New England, Armidale, 2351., Australia
S.C. Bishop
Affiliation:
Roslin Institute (Edinburgh), Roslin, EH25 9PS, Scotland
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Extract

Net feed efficiency refers to variation in feed consumption between animals net of requirements for maintenance and production, and may be measured as residual feed intake (RFI). Because RFI is independent of liveweight (LW) and growth rate, selection for improved net feed efficiency is likely to reduce feed intake with little change in growth. The purpose of this study was to establish whether there exists genetic variation in RFI in young British Hereford bulls, and to determine the phenotypic and genetic correlations of RFI with key production traits.

The data consisted of performance measurements on 540 bull progeny of 154 British Hereford sires, collected over ten 200-day postweaning performance tests conducted between 1979 and 1988. The traits analysed were food intake (FI), 200 to 400-day daily gain (ADG), 400-day weight (W400), predicted carcass lean content (LEAN), lean growth rate (LGR), food conversion ratio (FI/ADG) and lean FCR (LFCR; FI/(ADG x LEAN), described by Bishop (1992).

Type
Programme
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 1999 , 1999 , pp. 47
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

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References

Bishop, S.C. 1992. Phenotypic and genetic variation in body weight, food intake and energy utilization in Hereford cattle. I. Performance test results. Livestock Production Science 30:1–18.Google Scholar
Mrode, R.A., Smith, C. and Thompson, R. 1990. Selection for rate and efficiency of lean gain in Hereford cattle. 2. Evaluation of correlated responses. Animal Production 51:35–46.Google Scholar
Gilmour, A.R., Thompson, R., Cullis, B.R. and Welham, S. 1996. ASREML. Biometrics Bulletin 3, NSW Agriculture.Google Scholar