Onset of puberty and early-life reproduction in Angus females divergently selected for post-weaning residual feed intake

Abstract

Angus cattle that had been divergently selected for Low and High post-weaning residual feed intake (RFI) were used in two projects to evaluate early-life reproductive performance and onset of puberty in females. In the first project, data on the 1999-born females (n = 64) were evaluated for weight, subcutaneous fat (P8 fat depth) and reproductive performance over two breeding cycles. These females that were the result of 1.0–2.5 (mean of 1.8) generations of selection, had mean (±s.e.) post-weaning RFI of –0.82 ± 0.19 kg/day and 0.57 ± 0.18 kg/day for the Low and High RFI selection lines, respectively. In the second project, ultrasonography was used to scan the ovaries of the 2008-born heifers (n = 121) on four occasions following weaning. In these heifers the presence of corpus luteum provided evidence of ovulation, and hence the commencement of onset of puberty. The average of the estimated breeding value (EBV) for RFI of the parents of the Low RFI and the High RFI selection line heifers were –0.72 ± 0.05 and 0.37 ± 0.03 kg/day, respectively. In the first project, no significant selection line differences were evident for weight, age at first mating, pregnancy and calving rates (percentage of females that were pregnant, or the percentage that calved out of the total number used for mating), calf birthweight and weight of calf born per female exposed to bull. Females from the Low RFI line had significantly (P < 0.05) lower P8 fat depth relative to their High RFI contemporaries at most of the measurement dates (e.g. 9.2 ± 0.5 versus 12.0 ± 0.5 mm at the start of first mating). Low RFI females also calved significantly (P < 0.05) later in the calving season than High RFI females (35.7 ± 3.0 versus 27.6 ± 2.4 days). The results indicate that there is a delayed pregnancy date during the first mating season leading to a later calving date for the Low RFI heifers. The later first calving date was then maintained at subsequent calving. The later calving, however, did not impact on pregnancy and calving rates. In the second project, it was observed that irrespective of selection line, heifers that had attained onset of puberty had significantly (P < 0.05) greater P8 fat depth than those that had not. Hence the expectation was that, relative to High RFI heifers, the Low RFI heifers with their lower P8 fat, will attain onset of puberty at a slightly older age. This expected trend was observed but the difference was not significant, and further investigations are recommended.