PMID- 37690273
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20230920
LR  - 20230920
IS  - 1751-732X (Electronic)
IS  - 1751-7311 (Linking)
VI  - 17
IP  - 9
DP  - 2023 Sep
TI  - Opportunities and limits of commercial farm data to study the genetic determinism 
      of feed efficiency throughout lactation in dairy sheep.
PG  - 100951
LID - S1751-7311(23)00267-7 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.animal.2023.100951 [doi]
AB  - The collective economic and environmental interest of the whole dairy sheep 
      sector is to reduce feed costs and the negative impact of milk production on the 
      environment. Thus, this study focused on the characterisation and genetic 
      selection potential of feed efficiency in the Lacaune breed. Estimates for feed 
      efficiency in dairy ewes are limited, mainly due to a lack of individual feed 
      intake measurements in the sheepfold or in the pasture. We estimated the genetic 
      parameters for two approximated (not entirely based on individual data) feed 
      efficiency traits (lactation feed conversion ratio (LFCR) and residual energy 
      intake (REI)) and daily milk yield (DMY) at different stages of lactation and 
      throughout lactation. The accuracy of the efficiency traits was first evaluated 
      on samples from Lacaune dairy ewes that were monitored individually, especially 
      for their feed intake. Then, feed efficiency estimation methods were applied on 
      eight commercial farms corresponding to 4 680 Lacaune dairy ewes over two milk 
      lactations (30 854 records). Animals were collectively (for a large part of feed 
      intake) or individually (for milk performance and dynamics of body fat reserves) 
      monitored at different lactation stages. The heritabilities of LFCR and REI were 
      estimated over lactations at 0.10 +/- 0.01 and 0.11 +/- 0.01, respectively. High 
      genetic correlations were observed between the two efficiency traits and milk 
      production traits, with a genetic correlation between LFCR and DMY of 0.74 +/- 0.04 
      and between REI and DMY of -0.79 +/- 0.04. A strong influence of environmental 
      factors such as farm, year of milk production and lactation stage affected the 
      genetic link between REI and milk production traits. Efficiency values observed 
      in early lactation when animals were bred in the sheepfold were less genetically 
      correlated with values obtained later in lactation when animals were grass-fed. 
      However, individual characterisation of feed efficiency remains difficult due to 
      the collective feeding context in dairy ewe farms.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
FAU - Machefert, C
AU  - Machefert C
AD  - GenPhySE, Universite de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France. 
      Electronic address: coralie.machefert@inrae.fr.
FAU - Robert-Granie, C
AU  - Robert-Granie C
AD  - GenPhySE, Universite de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France.
FAU - Lagriffoul, G
AU  - Lagriffoul G
AD  - Institut de l'Elevage - CNBL, 75595 Paris, France.
FAU - Parisot, S
AU  - Parisot S
AD  - INRAE, UEF Unite Experimentale de La Fage, F-12250 Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, France.
FAU - Allain, C
AU  - Allain C
AD  - INRAE, UEF Unite Experimentale de La Fage, F-12250 Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, France.
FAU - Portes, D
AU  - Portes D
AD  - INRAE, UEF Unite Experimentale de La Fage, F-12250 Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, France.
FAU - Astruc, J M
AU  - Astruc JM
AD  - Institut de l'Elevage - CNBL, 75595 Paris, France.
FAU - Hassoun, P
AU  - Hassoun P
AD  - SELMET, INRAE, CIRAD, Montpellier SupAgro, Univ Montpellier, 34060 Montpellier, 
      France.
FAU - Larroque, H
AU  - Larroque H
AD  - GenPhySE, Universite de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230806
PL  - England
TA  - Animal
JT  - Animal : an international journal of animal bioscience
JID - 101303270
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Female
MH  - Sheep/genetics
MH  - Farms
MH  - *Genetic Determinism
MH  - *Lactation/genetics
MH  - Milk
MH  - Energy Intake
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Collective feeding
OT  - Feed efficiency
OT  - Genetic parameter
OT  - Lacaune dairy ewes
OT  - Lactation stage
EDAT- 2023/09/11 00:42
MHDA- 2023/09/20 06:42
CRDT- 2023/09/10 18:04
PHST- 2023/04/17 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/07/24 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2023/07/31 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/09/20 06:42 [medline]
PHST- 2023/09/11 00:42 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/09/10 18:04 [entrez]
AID - S1751-7311(23)00267-7 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.animal.2023.100951 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Animal. 2023 Sep;17(9):100951. doi: 10.1016/j.animal.2023.100951. Epub 2023 Aug 
      6.