Optimization of Mating Frequencies of Sires in Japanese Brown Cattle Based on their Expected Progeny Differences

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  • 期待後代差に基づく褐毛和種種雄牛の交配頻度の最適化
  • キタイ コウダイサ ニ モトズク カツモウワシュ シュユウギュウ ノ コウハイ

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Abstract

Effective population size is one of the most important parameters in the design of animal breeding programmes, because it is closely related to the rate of inbreeding, the variation of selection response due to random genetic drift and the chance of loss of favourable alleles. In Japanese beef cattle breeding, it has been pointed out that the effective population size is dramatically reduced by the intensive use of prominent sires. In this paper, the authors developed a method for maximizing effective population size under an intended genetic gain. In the method, mating frequency of each sire is assigned according to the expected progeny difference (EPD) using quadratic programming technique. The method was applied to the population of Japanese Brown Cattle in 1993. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1) From the survey of the actual mating frequencies, the annual effective population size of Japanese Brown Cattle was estimated as about 20. In particular, a sire with the highest EPD for beef marbling score (BMS) shared 40% of the total number of matings. This intensive use was considered as the main reason for the small effective size of population. 2) The proposed method was expected to increase the effective population size by 50%, while keeping the present genetic gain in BMS. Comparison between the optimal and actual mating frequencies showed that there is plenty of room for improvement of mating frequencies in Japanese Brown sires. These results suggest that the proposed method gives a guide for the control of mating frequencies of sires.

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