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Records on groups of individuals could be valuable for predicting breeding values when a trait is difficult or costly to measure on single individuals, such as feed intake and egg production. Adding genomic information has shown improvement in the accuracy of genetic evaluation of quantitative traits with individual records. Here, we investigated the value of genomic information for traits with group records. Besides, we investigated the improvement in accuracy of genetic evaluation for group-recorded traits when including information on a correlated trait with individual records. The study was based on a simulated pig population, including three scenarios of group structure and size. The results showed that both the genomic information and a correlated trait increased the accuracy of estimated breeding values (EBVs) for traits with group records. The accuracies of EBV obtained from group records with a size 24 were much lower than those with a size 12. Random assignment of animals to pens led to lower accuracy due to the weaker relationship between individuals within each group. It suggests that group records are valuable for genetic evaluation of a trait that is difficult to record on individuals, and the accuracy of genetic evaluation can be considerably increased using genomic information. Moreover, the genetic evaluation for a trait with group records can be greatly improved using a bivariate model, including correlated traits that are recorded individually. For efficient use of group records in genetic evaluation, relatively small group size and close relationships between individuals within one group are recommended.

Genomic prediction models have been commonly used in plant breeding but only in reduced datasets comprising a few hundred genotyped individuals. However, pedigree information for an entire breeding population is frequently available, as are historical data on the performance of a large number of selection candidates. The single-step method extends the genomic relationship information from genotyped individuals to pedigree information from a larger number of phenotyped individuals in order to combine relationship information on all members of the breeding population. Furthermore, genomic prediction models that incorporate genotype x environment interactions (G x E) have produced substantial increases in prediction accuracy compared with single-environment genomic prediction models. Our main objective was to show how to use single- step genomic and pedigree models to assess the prediction accuracy of 58,798 CIMMYT wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) lines evaluated in several simulated environments in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, and to predict the grain yield performance of some of them in several sites in South Asia (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) using a reaction norm model that incorporated G x E. Another objective was to describe the statistical and computational challenges encountered when developing the pedigree and single-step models in such large datasets. Results indicate that the genomic prediction accuracy achieved by models using pedigree only, markers only, or both pedigree and markers to predict various environments in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh is higher (0.25-0.38) than prediction accuracy of models that use only phenotypic prediction (0.20) or do not include the G x E term.

International audience; AbstractBackground Much effort is put into identifying causative quantitative trait nucleotides (QTN) in animal breeding, empowered by the availability of dense single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) information. Genomic selection using traditional SNP information is easily implemented for any number of genotyped individuals using single-step genomic best linear unbiased predictor (ssGBLUP) with the algorithm for proven and young (APY). Our aim was to investigate whether ssGBLUP is useful for genomic prediction when some or all QTN are known.MethodsSimulations included 180,000 animals across 11 generations. Phenotypes were available for all animals in generations 6 to 10. Genotypes for 60,000 SNPs across 10 chromosomes were available for 29,000 individuals. The genetic variance was fully accounted for by 100 or 1000 biallelic QTN. Raw genomic relationship matrices (GRM) were computed from (a) unweighted SNPs, (b) unweighted SNPs and causative QTN, (c) SNPs and causative QTN weighted with results obtained with genome-wide association studies, (d) unweighted SNPs and causative QTN with simulated weights, (e) only unweighted causative QTN, (f–h) as in (b–d) but using only the top 10% causative QTN, and (i) using only causative QTN with simulated weight. Predictions were computed by pedigree-based BLUP (PBLUP) and ssGBLUP. Raw GRM were blended with 1 or 5% of the numerator relationship matrix, or 1% of the identity matrix. Inverses of GRM were obtained directly or with APY.ResultsAccuracy of breeding values for 5000 genotyped animals in the last generation with PBLUP was 0.32, and for ssGBLUP it increased to 0.49 with an unweighted GRM, 0.53 after adding unweighted QTN, 0.63 when QTN weights were estimated, and 0.89 when QTN weights were based on true effects known from the simulation. When the GRM was constructed from causative QTN only, accuracy was 0.95 and 0.99 with blending at 5 and 1%, respectively. Accuracies simulating 1000 QTN were generally lower, with a similar trend. Accuracies using the APY inverse were equal or higher than those with a regular inverse.ConclusionsSingle-step GBLUP can account for causative QTN via a weighted GRM. Accuracy gains are maximum when variances of causative QTN are known and blending is at 1%.

Background Mortality due to cannibalism causes both economic and welfare problems in laying hens. To limit mortality due to cannibalism, laying hens are often beak-trimmed, which is undesirable for animal welfare reasons. Genetic selection is an alternative strategy to increase survival and is more efficient by taking heritable variation that originates from social interactions into account, which are modelled as the so-called indirect genetic effects (IGE). Despite the considerable heritable variation in survival time due to IGE, genetic improvement of survival time in laying hens is still challenging because the detected heritable variation of the trait with IGE is still limited, ranging from 0.06 to 0.26, and individuals that are still alive at the end of the recording period are censored. Furthermore, survival time records are available late in life and only on females. To cope with these challenges, we tested the hypothesis that genomic prediction increases the accuracy of estimated breeding values (EBV) compared to parental average EBV, and increases response to selection for survival time compared to a traditional breeding scheme. We tested this hypothesis in two lines of brown layers with intact beaks, which show cannibalism, and also the hypothesis that the rate of inbreeding per year is lower for genomic selection than for the traditional breeding scheme. Results and discussion The standard deviation of genomic prediction EBV for survival time was around 22 days for both lines, indicating good prospects for selection against mortality in laying hens with intact beaks. Genomic prediction increased the accuracy of the EBV by 35 and 32 % compared to the parent average EBV for the two lines. At the current reference population size, predicted response to selection was 91 % higher when using genomic selection than with the traditional breeding scheme, as a result of a shorter generation interval in males and greater accuracy of selection in females. The predicted rate of inbreeding per generation with truncation selection was substantially lower for genomic selection than for the traditional breeding scheme for both lines. Conclusions Genomic selection for socially affected traits is a promising tool for the improvement of survival time in laying hens with intact beaks. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12711-016-0247-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

International audience; Background In crossbreeding schemes, within-line selection of purebreds is performed mainly to improve the performance of crossbred descendants under field conditions. The genetic correlation between purebred and crossbred performance is an important parameter to be assessed because purebred performance can be a poor predictor of the performance of crossbred offspring. With the availability of high-density markers, the feasibility of using crossbred information to evaluate purebred candidates can be reassessed. This study implements and applies a single-step terminal-cross model (GEN) to real data to estimate the genetic parameters of several production and quality traits in pigs.MethodsPiétrain sires were mated with Piétrain and Large White dams to produce purebred and crossbred male half-sib piglets; growth rate, feed conversion ratio, lean meat, pH of longissimus dorsi muscle, drip loss and intramuscular fat content were recorded on all half-sibs. Animals were genotyped using the Illumina Porcine SNP60 BeadChip. The genetic correlation between purebred and crossbred performance was estimated separately for each trait. Purebred animals were evaluated using an animal model, whereas the additive genetic effect of a crossbred individual was decomposed into the additive effects of the sire and dam and a Mendelian sampling effect that was confounded with the residual effect. Genotypes of the Piétrain animals were integrated in the genetic evaluation by using a single-step procedure. As benchmarks, we used a model that was identical to GEN but only accounted for pedigree information (PED) and also two univariate single-step models (GEN_UNI) that took either purebred or crossbred performance into account.ResultsGenetic correlations between purebred and crossbred performance were high and positive for all traits (>0.69). Accuracies of estimated breeding values of genotyped sires and purebred offspring that were obtained with the GEN model outperformed both those obtained with the PED and the GEN_UNI models. The use of genomic information increased the predictive ability of the GEN model, but it did not substantially outperform the GEN_UNI models.ConclusionsWe present a single-step terminal-cross model that integrates genomic information of purebred and crossbred performance by using available software. It improves the theoretical accuracy of genetic evaluations in breeding programs that are based on crossbreeding.

International audience; Background: All progeny-tested bucks from the two main French dairy goat breeds (Alpine and Saanen) were genotyped with the Illumina goat SNP50 BeadChip. The reference population consisted of 677 bucks and 148 selection candidates. With the two-step approach based on genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP), prediction accuracy of candidates did not outperform that of the parental average. We investigated a GBLUP method based on a single-step approach, with or without blending of the two breeds in the reference population.Methods: Three models were used: (1) a multi-breed model, in which Alpine and Saanen breeds were considered as a single breed; (2) a within-breed model, with separate genomic evaluation per breed; and (3) a multiple-trait model, in which a trait in the Alpine was assumed to be correlated to the same trait in the Saanen breed, using three levels of between-breed genetic correlations (ρ): ρ = 0, ρ = 0.99, or estimated ρ. Quality of genomic predictions was assessed on progeny-tested bucks, by cross-validation of the Pearson correlation coefficients for validation accuracy and the regression coefficients of daughter yield deviations (DYD) on genomic breeding values (GEBV). Model-based estimates of average accuracy were calculated on the 148 candidates.Results: The genetic correlations between Alpine and Saanen breeds were highest for udder type traits, ranging from 0.45 to 0.76. Pearson correlations with the single-step approach were higher than previously reported with a two-step approach. Correlations between GEBV and DYD were similar for the three models (within-breed, multi-breed and multiple traits). Regression coefficients of DYD on GEBV were greater with the within-breed model and multiple-trait model with ρ = 0.99 than with the other models. The single-step approach improved prediction accuracy of candidates from 22 to 37% for both breeds compared to the two-step method.Conclusions: Using a single-step approach with GBLUP, prediction accuracy of candidates was greater than that based on parent average of official evaluations and accuracies obtained with a two-step approach. Except for regression coefficients of DYD on GEBV, there were no significant differences between the three models.

Background Efficient, robust, and accurate genotype imputation algorithms make large-scale application of genomic selection cost effective. An algorithm that imputes alleles or allele probabilities for all animals in the pedigree and for all genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) provides a framework to combine all pedigree, genomic, and phenotypic information into a single-stage genomic evaluation. Methods An algorithm was developed for imputation of genotypes in pedigreed populations that allows imputation for completely ungenotyped animals and for low-density genotyped animals, accommodates a wide variety of pedigree structures for genotyped animals, imputes unmapped SNP, and works for large datasets. The method involves simple phasing rules, long-range phasing and haplotype library imputation and segregation analysis. Results Imputation accuracy was high and computational cost was feasible for datasets with pedigrees of up to 25 000 animals. The resulting single-stage genomic evaluation increased the accuracy of estimated genomic breeding values compared to a scenario in which phenotypes on relatives that were not genotyped were ignored. Conclusions The developed imputation algorithm and software and the resulting single-stage genomic evaluation method provide powerful new ways to exploit imputation and to obtain more accurate genetic evaluations.