Genotype-environment interaction, genetic trends, and performance dissimilarity of Nellore herds raised in three different environmental gradients

The objectives of this work were to evaluate the genotype-environment interaction, and estimate genetic parameters, genetic trends, and performance dissimilarity-weight gain from birth to weaning (WGBW), adjusted weight to 205 days (W205), weight gain from weaning to 18 months of age (WG18), and adjusted weight to 550 days (W550)-in Nellore animals born between 1986 and 2012, and raised in pasture-based system in three different environmental gradients in Brazil. Data of 62,001 animals-11,729 raised in the Alto Taquari/Bolsão region (ATBR), 21,143 raised in the Campo Grande/Dourados region (CGDR) and 29,129 raised in the western São Paulo/Paraná region (SPPR) in Brazil-were used. The contemporary groups were defined by sex, location, and birth year and season, with at least nine individuals, two different environments, and breeding bulls with at least five progenies. The statistical model contained the direct additive and residual genetic effects (random effects), and environmental and contemporary group effects (fixed effects). Genetic parameters, genotype-environment interaction and genetic trends were estimates using animal model (uni- and/or bi- traits). The level of similarity between regions was evaluated using principal components. The animals raised in the CGDR had superior performance regarding the traits evaluated. The direct heritability estimates ranged from 0.39 to 0.44 (WGBW), 0.41 to 0.45 (W205), 0.42 to 0.55 (WG18) and 0.60 to 0.62 (W550). The maternal heritability of the traits ranged from 0.20 (WGBW), 0.12 to 0.18 (W205), 0.00 to 0.06 (WG18) and 0.02 to 0.22 (W550). According to the Spearman correlation, the ranking of the breeding bulls in the regions evaluated were different. The mean of Euclidean distance indicated low similarity between ATBR and CGDR (43.20), and ATBR and SPPR (29.24). CGDR and SPPR presented similarity of 17.84. The breed values increased over the years in the traits evaluated. The cumulative variance percentage of the first two main components explained 99.99% variation among the regions, and the weight gains of the animals were the most important to differentiate the regions. A genotype-environment interaction was found for the traits evaluated, thus, the breeding bull selected with superior genetic merit for one region might not be the best for others.