Abstract
BackgroundBeef cattle breeding programs in Brazil have placed greater emphasis on the genomic study of reproductive traits of males and females due to their economic importance. In this study, genome-wide associations were assessed for scrotal circumference at 210 d of age, scrotal circumference at 420 d of age, age at first calving, and age at second calving, in Canchim beef cattle. Data quality control was conducted resulting in 672,778 SNPs and 392 animals.ResultsAssociated SNPs were observed for scrotal circumference at 420 d of age (435 SNPs), followed by scrotal circumference at 210 d of age (12 SNPs), age at first calving (six SNPs), and age at second calving (four SNPs). We investigated whether significant SNPs were within genic or surrounding regions. Biological processes of genes were associated with immune system, multicellular organismal process, response to stimulus, apoptotic process, cellular component organization or biogenesis, biological adhesion, and reproduction.ConclusionsFew associations were observed for scrotal circumference at 210 d of age, age at first calving, and age at second calving, reinforcing their polygenic inheritance and the complexity of understanding the genetic architecture of reproductive traits. Finding many associations for scrotal circumference at 420 d of age in various regions of the Canchim genome also reveals the difficulty of targeting specific candidate genes that could act on fertility; nonetheless, the high linkage disequilibrium between loci herein estimated could aid to overcome this issue. Therefore, all relevant information about genomic regions influencing reproductive traits may contribute to target candidate genes for further investigation of causal mutations and aid in future genomic studies in Canchim cattle to improve the breeding program.
Highlights
Beef cattle breeding programs in Brazil have placed greater emphasis on the genomic study of reproductive traits of males and females due to their economic importance
Traits analyzed The estimated breeding values (EBVs) used in our study considered the following traits: scrotal circumference at weaning adjusted for 210 d of age (SC210), scrotal circumference adjusted for 420 d of age (SC420), age at first calving (AFC), and age at second calving (ASC)
The greatest number of significant single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was observed for SC420 (435 SNPs), followed by SC210 (12 SNPs), AFC, and ASC when considering false discovery rate (FDR) 10% for all traits
Summary
Beef cattle breeding programs in Brazil have placed greater emphasis on the genomic study of reproductive traits of males and females due to their economic importance. Genome-wide associations were assessed for scrotal circumference at 210 d of age, scrotal circumference at 420 d of age, age at first calving, and age at second calving, in Canchim beef cattle. Cattle breeding programs in Brazil have given greater emphasis to the study and selection of reproductive traits due to their economic importance for the production system. Scrotal circumference traits are related to the reproductive potential of bulls, because testis size is associated with the production and quality of sperm and the production of sex hormones [1]. Studies have reported that indirect selection of females based on the performance of bulls is possible, considering the favorable genetic correlations
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