PMID- 35692829
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20220716
IS  - 1664-8021 (Print)
IS  - 1664-8021 (Electronic)
IS  - 1664-8021 (Linking)
VI  - 13
DP  - 2022
TI  - Selecting for Feed Efficient Cows Will Help to Reduce Methane Gas Emissions.
PG  - 885932
LID - 10.3389/fgene.2022.885932 [doi]
LID - 885932
AB  - In the last decade, several countries have included feed efficiency (as residual 
      feed intake; RFI) in their breeding goal. Recent studies showed that RFI is 
      favorably correlated with methane emissions. Thus, selecting for lower emitting 
      animals indirectly through RFI could be a short-term strategy in order to achieve 
      the intended reduction set by the EU Commission (-55% for 2030). The objectives 
      were to 1) estimate genetic parameters for six methane traits, including genetic 
      correlations between methane traits, production, and feed efficiency traits, 2) 
      evaluate the expected correlated response of methane traits when selecting for 
      feed efficiency with or without including methane, 3) quantify the impact of 
      reducing methane emissions in dairy cattle using the Danish Holstein population 
      as an example. A total of 26,664 CH(4) breath records from 647 Danish Holstein 
      cows measured over 7 years in a research farm were analyzed. Records on dry 
      matter intake (DMI), body weight (BW), and energy corrected milk (ECM) were also 
      available. Methane traits were methane concentration (MeC, ppm), methane 
      production (MeP; g/d), methane yield (MeY; g CH(4)/kg DMI), methane intensity 
      (MeI; g CH(4)/kg ECM), residual methane concentration (RMeC), residual methane 
      production (RMeP, g/d), and two definitions of residual feed intake with or 
      without including body weight change (RFI1, RFI2). The estimated heritability of 
      MeC was 0.20 +/- 0.05 and for MeP, it was 0.21 +/- 0.05, whereas heritability 
      estimates for MeY and MeI were 0.22 +/- 0.05 and 0.18 +/- 0.04, and for the RMeC and 
      RMeP, they were 0.23 +/- 0.06 and 0.16 +/- 0.02, respectively. Genetic correlations 
      between methane traits ranged from moderate to highly correlated (0.48 +/- 
      0.16-0.98 +/- 0.01). Genetic correlations between methane traits and feed 
      efficiency were all positive, ranging from 0.05 +/- 0.20 (MeI-RFI2) to 0.76 +/- 0.09 
      (MeP-RFI2). Selection index calculations showed that selecting for feed 
      efficiency has a positive impact on reducing methane emissions' expected 
      response, independently of the trait used (MeP, RMeP, or MeI). Nevertheless, 
      adding a negative economic value for methane would accelerate the response and 
      help to reach the reduction goal in fewer generations. Therefore, including 
      methane in the breeding goal seems to be a faster way to achieve the desired 
      methane emission reductions in dairy cattle.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2022 Manzanilla-Pech, Stephansen, Difford, Lovendahl and Lassen.
FAU - Manzanilla-Pech, Coralia Ines Valentina
AU  - Manzanilla-Pech CIV
AD  - Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, 
      Denmark.
FAU - Stephansen, Rasmus Bak
AU  - Stephansen RB
AD  - Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, 
      Denmark.
FAU - Difford, Gareth Frank
AU  - Difford GF
AD  - Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian 
      University of Life Sciences, As, Norway.
FAU - Lovendahl, Peter
AU  - Lovendahl P
AD  - Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, 
      Denmark.
FAU - Lassen, Jan
AU  - Lassen J
AD  - Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Aarhus University, Aarhus, 
      Denmark.
AD  - Viking Genetics, Assentoft, Randers, Denmark.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20220526
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Front Genet
JT  - Frontiers in genetics
JID - 101560621
PMC - PMC9178123
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - dairy cattle
OT  - feed efficiency
OT  - methane emission
OT  - methane intensity
OT  - residual methane
COIS- The author JL is employed by the company Viking Genetics. The remaining authors 
      declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or 
      financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of 
      interest.
EDAT- 2022/06/14 06:00
MHDA- 2022/06/14 06:01
PMCR- 2022/05/26
CRDT- 2022/06/13 03:05
PHST- 2022/02/28 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/04/19 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/06/13 03:05 [entrez]
PHST- 2022/06/14 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/06/14 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2022/05/26 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 885932 [pii]
AID - 10.3389/fgene.2022.885932 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Front Genet. 2022 May 26;13:885932. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.885932. eCollection 
      2022.