Single step analysis will be released for Limousin this month

BREEDPLAN team has announced the release of the November 2023 Southern Limousin BREEDPLAN analysis, genomic (DNA) information will be used alongside performance and pedigree information to calculate BREEDPLAN EBVs.

Single-Step BREEDPLAN uses analytical software developed by the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit (AGBU), a joint venture of NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) and the University of New England (UNE), funded by Meat and Livestock Australia Limited (MLA).

The Single-Step BREEDPLAN evaluation utilises pedigree, performance and genomic information simultaneously.

The evaluation takes account of each animal’s actual genetic relationship with all other genotyped animals, including those in the reference population.

The reference population is the set of Limousin animals that have genotypes (SNP data) and phenotypes (performance records) for each particular trait.

Overall, the most important effects of the implementation of Single-Step BREEDPLAN are that:

  • The evaluation requires high density SNP genotypes. These are submitted to the BREEDPLAN genomic pipeline where they undergo extensive QA checking before being eligible for inclusion in the Single-Step run.
  • Genomic information contributes to all EBVs that are calculated within the main multi-trait BREEDPLAN analysis, resulting in an increased spread in the EBVs and an improvement in the accuracy in the EBVs. The amount of change depends on the size of the reference population for a given trait, and the relatedness of a genotyped individual to the existing reference population.
  • Genomic information contributes mostly to the EBVs of animals with genotypes, but does also contribute to the EBVs of their non-genotyped relatives (e.g. parents, progeny).

-Limousin Australia