TY - JOUR
T1 - Implementation of an economic lifetime net merit for the dual-purpose german black pied cattle breed
AU - Meier, Saskia
AU - Arends, Danny
AU - Korkuć, Paula
AU - Kipp, Sandra
AU - Segelke, Dierck
AU - Filler, Günther
AU - Brockmann, Gudrun A.
N1 - Funding information:
The project was supported by funds of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) based on a decision of the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany via the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) under the Federal Program for Ecological Farming and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture (Funding number: 2815NA010). We acknowledge support by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
PY - 2021/1/8
Y1 - 2021/1/8
N2 - Recently, a Total Merit Index (RZ€) has been developed for German Holstein dairy cattle on the basis of margin in Euro. Our aim was to adjust this lifetime net merit for the dual-purpose German Black Pied cattle breed (DSN) accounting for beef production in addition to milk performance and fitness traits. We used the estimated breeding values of DSN sires and developed a breeding value for carcass weight and quality. Furthermore, we adjusted the German Holstein marginal profits per standard deviation, which are used to calculate the estimated breeding values, to DSN-specific values. The DSN Net Merit is the sum of the three sub-indices DSN Net Milk, DSN Net Fitness, and DSN Net Beef, which contribute to the DSN Net Merit with 52.84%, 43.43%, and 3.73%, respectively. The DSN Net Merit that was calculated for 33 DSN sires ranged between EUR −1114 and +709. The DSN Net Merit strongly correlates with the Total Merit Index. The implementation of the DSN Net Merit is useful for selection and mating decisions. Especially, the sub-index DSN Net Beef, which does not correlate with existing breeding values, can be used to maintain the dual-purpose character of DSN while modestly improving milk yield. The approach can be easily adapted to other dual-purpose breeds.
AB - Recently, a Total Merit Index (RZ€) has been developed for German Holstein dairy cattle on the basis of margin in Euro. Our aim was to adjust this lifetime net merit for the dual-purpose German Black Pied cattle breed (DSN) accounting for beef production in addition to milk performance and fitness traits. We used the estimated breeding values of DSN sires and developed a breeding value for carcass weight and quality. Furthermore, we adjusted the German Holstein marginal profits per standard deviation, which are used to calculate the estimated breeding values, to DSN-specific values. The DSN Net Merit is the sum of the three sub-indices DSN Net Milk, DSN Net Fitness, and DSN Net Beef, which contribute to the DSN Net Merit with 52.84%, 43.43%, and 3.73%, respectively. The DSN Net Merit that was calculated for 33 DSN sires ranged between EUR −1114 and +709. The DSN Net Merit strongly correlates with the Total Merit Index. The implementation of the DSN Net Merit is useful for selection and mating decisions. Especially, the sub-index DSN Net Beef, which does not correlate with existing breeding values, can be used to maintain the dual-purpose character of DSN while modestly improving milk yield. The approach can be easily adapted to other dual-purpose breeds.
KW - Beef
KW - Carcass weight
KW - Dual-purpose
KW - Economic breeding value
KW - Endangered breed
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099424033&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/agriculture11010041
DO - 10.3390/agriculture11010041
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85099424033
SN - 0551-3677
VL - 11
JO - Agriculture
JF - Agriculture
IS - 1
M1 - 41
ER -