Genomic evaluation of Holstein cattle in Antioquia (Colombia): a case study.

Background: DNA markers have been widely used in genetic evaluation throughout the last decade due to the increased reliability of breeding values (BV) they allow, mainly in young animals. Objective: to compare breeding values estimated through the conventional method (best linear unbiased predictor, BLUP) with methods that include molecular markers for milk traits in Holstein cattle in Antioquia (Colombia). Methods: predictions of breeding values were performed using three methods: BLUP, molecular best linear unbiased predictor (MBLUP), and Bayes C. The breeding values were compared using Spearman's correlation coefficient and linear regression coefficient. Results: all Spearman correlation coefficients between breeding values obtained by different methods were greater than 0.5, while linear regression coefficients ranged between -2.10 and 1.58. Conclusions: prediction of breeding values through BLUP, MBLUP and Bayes C showed different results in terms of magnitude from the estimated values. However, animal ranking according to breeding values was not significantly different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]