Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2021, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (10): 2687-2697.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2021.010.001

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A Review on Novel Traits in Dairy Cattle Breeding

ZHANG Hailiang1, CHANG Yao1, LOU Wenqi1, WANG Kai1, CHEN Ziwei1, MI Siyuan1, WEN Wan2, WANG Yachun1*   

  1. 1. National Engineering Laboratory for Animal Breeding, Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China;
    2. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Animal Husbandry Station, Yinchuan 750004, China
  • Received:2021-01-21 Online:2021-10-23 Published:2021-10-27

Abstract: After the establishment of breeding goals for dairy cattle in various countries, the breeding goals have been continuously developed, and the composition, definition and weight of traits in the selection index are constantly changing. The selection and breeding of dairy cows started with the focus on milk production performance, and then conformation traits were added. By the end of 20th century, the focus of selection had moved away from being purely production oriented toward a more balanced breeding goal, and some important functional traits were considered. This shift occurred partly due to increase of health and fertility issues and partly due to welfare concerns. After entering the 21st century, with the development of society and dairy industry, breeders have pay attention to novel traits, and some have begun to be used in breeding practice. The literatures on novel traits in dairy cattle breeding in the past decade and useful information from the breeding program in various countries are collected in this review. And the novel traits which are being studied and/or have been applied in dairy breeding in dairy developed countries are presented. In this review, the novel traits were summarized as 5 categories, including that related to production efficiency, coping with environmental challenges, improving cattle health and welfare, products and milk processing characteristics, and workability. The background, definition, genetic architecture and genetic selection strategies for these novel traits were introduced in this review. Finally, the workflow of research and application for novel traits in dairy breeding was summarized. This review can provide a reference for the study in dairy breeding and help improve breeding objectives in Chinese dairy population.

Key words: dairy cattle, genetic selection, novel trait, breeding goal

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