Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (2): 591-602.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2025.02.011

• Animal Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Comparison of Prediction Accuracy of Genomic Selection for Economically Important Traits in Huaxi Cattle Based on Different Chip Densities

WANG Yuanqing(), WANG Zezhao, ZHU Bo, CHEN Yan, XU Lingyang, ZHANG Lupei, GAO Huijiang, LI Chao, LI Junya*(), GAO Xue*()   

  1. Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2024-08-09 Online:2025-02-23 Published:2025-02-26
  • Contact: LI Junya, GAO Xue E-mail:wangyuanqing811@126.com;lijunya@caas.cn;gaoxue@caas.cn

Abstract:

This study systematically compared the effects of different marker densities on the predictive accuracy and explored methods for combining these two chips of genetic evaluations in Huaxi cattle based on the practical application of the Illumina BovineHD 770K and Cattle 110K chips. In this study, a genomic selection reference population of 3 948 Huaxi cattle was used. The 770K chip data were imputed to 790K by using resequencing data. Then 4 marker densities were selected: 90K (intersection of the two chips), 110K, 770K, and 790K (union of the two chips). The heritability of 5 traits (weaning weight, daily weight gain during the fattening period, calving ease, carcass weight, and dressing percentage) were estimated, and the predictive accuracy of genomic evaluations was compared using the GBLUP model, identifying the optimal marker density for genetic evaluations in Huaxi cattle. The results showed that: 1) There were no significant differences in the estimated heritability of the 5 traits across the 4 marker densities. The heritability for weaning weight and daily weight gain during fattening period ranged from 0.47 to 0.50 (high heritability), carcass weight ranged from 0.37 to 0.39 (moderate heritability), and calving ease and dressing percentage ranged from 0.14 to 0.21 (low to moderate heritability). 2) The Cattle 110K chip demonstrated significantly better predictive accuracy for all traits compared to the Illumina BovineHD 770K chip (P < 0.05) in the GBLUP model. The improvements were particularly notable for carcass weight, calving ease and dressing percentage, with increases of 14.9%, 13.8%, and 8.4%, respectively. For weaning weight and daily weight gain during fattening period, the improvements were 2.8% and 4.5%, respectively. 3) The predictive accuracy of traits increased with higher heritability under the 4 marker densities. The regression coefficients for the different marker densities were 0.439 2 (90K), 0.374 1 (110K), 0.413 6 (770K), and 0.459 3 (790K). Therefore, the Cattle 110K chip can be used directly, achieving good predictive accuracy while reducing costs in practical genetic evaluations of Huaxi cattle.

Key words: Huaxi cattle, genomic selection, marker density, breeding chip, genomic China beef index

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