Study of Longevity in Dairy Cattle
الموضوعات :M. Rakhshani Nejad 1 , N. Emamjomeh Kashan 2 , M. Rokouei 3 , M. Aminafshar 4 , H. Faraji-Arough 5
1 - Department of Animal Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of Animal Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran|Department of Animal and Poultry Science, College of Aburaihan, University of Tehran, Pakdasht, Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of Animal Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
5 - Research Center of Special Domestic Animals, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran
الکلمات المفتاحية: Gibbs sampling, hazard function, survival heritability,
ملخص المقالة :
This study aimed to estimate the effect of environmental factors on variation of the longevity and the genetic parameters of the trait in Holstein dairy cows in Iran. The records of 181738 cows in the years 2001 to 2018 were provided by the Animal Breeding Center of Iran (Karaj, Iran). Profitability in dairy herds depends on animal survival in the herd, which is provided by reducing involuntary culling and increasing the voluntary culling in the herd. The survival was defined as the lifespan, the lifetime milk, fat, and protein yield after first calving, and lifetime days in milk. The effect of environmental factors on traits and risk of culling was estimated using Survival kit and cmprsk statistical packages. The variance components were estimated by Gibbs sampling method based on exponential distribution, incomplete data, and survival analysis. The effects of herd, season, and age of calving on traits were significant (P<0.001). The risk of culling of cows with difficult calving was higher than others. The risk of culling of cows calved in spring was higher than in other seasons. The heritability of different traits of survival estimated to be 0.0067-0.0147. The results showed that the effect of different environmental factors on variation of longevity is significant, and the heritability of the trait is low. However, a review of the literature indicates that, despite the low heritability of the trait, it can be improved in a population through genetic selection. This approach is justified, as longevity is not only important for the farmer from the economic point of view, but it also affects the increase of animal welfare and social acceptance of the dairy sector.
Chirinos Z., Carabano M.J. and Hernández D. (2007). Genetic evaluation of length of productive life in the Spanish Holstein-Friesian population: Model validation and genetic estimation. Livest. Sci. 106, 120-131.
Cielava L., Jonkus D. and Paura L. (2017). The effect of cow reproductive traits on lifetime productivity and longevity. Int. J. Biol. Biomol. Agric. Food Biotechnol. Eng. 11, 220-223.
De Vries A., Olson JD and Pinedo PJ. (2010). Reproductive risk factors for culling and productive life in large dairy herds in the eastern United States between 2001 and 2006. J. Dairy Sci. 93, 613-623.
Djemali M., Berger P.J. and Freeman A.E. (1987). Ordered categorical sire evaluation for dystocia in Holsteins. J. Dairy. Sci. 70, 2374-2384.
Ducrocq V.P., Quaas R.L., Pollak E.J. and Casella G. (1988). Length of productive life of dairy cows. 2. Variance component estimation and sire evaluation. J. Dairy Sci. 71, 3071-3080.
Fetrow J., Nordlund K.V. and Norman H.D. (2006). Invited review: culling: nomenclature, definitions, and recommendations. J. Dairy. Sci. 89, 1896-1905.
Fine J.P. and Gray R.J. (1999). A proportional hazards model for the subdistribution of a competing risk. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 94, 496-509.
Forabosco F., Jakobsen J.H. and Fikse W.F. (2009). International genetic evaluation for direct longevity in dairy bulls. J. Dairy Sci. 92, 2338-2347.
Grayaa M., Vanderick S., Boulbaba Rekik B., Ben Gara A., Hanzen C., Grayaa1 S., Reis Mota R., Hammami H. and Gengler N. (2019). Linking first lactation survival to milk yield and components and lactation persistency in Tunisian Holstein cows. Arch. Anim. Breed. 62, 153-160.
Hadfield J.D. (2010). MCMC methods for multi-response generalized linear mixed models: The MCMCglmm R package. J. Stat. Softw. 33, 1-22.
Imbayarwo-Chikosi V.E., Dzama K., Halimani T.E., Van Wyk J.B., Maiwashe A.N. and Banga C.B. (2015). Genetic prediction models and heritability estimates for functional longevity in dairy cattle. South African J. Anim. Sci. 45, 105-121.
Jovanovac S., Raguz N., Solkner J. and Meszaros G. (2013). Genetic evaluation for longevity of Croatian Simmental bulls using a piecewise Weibull model. Arch. Tierz. 56, 89-101.
Lurdes Kern E., Araujo Cobuci J., Napolis Costa C. and Vincent Ducrocq V. (2016). Survival analysis of productive life in Brazilian holstein using a piecewise Weibull proportional hazard model. Livest. Sci. 185, 89-96.
Miglior F., Muir B.L. and Van Doormaal B.J. (2005). Selection indices in Holstein cattle of various countries. J. Dairy Sci. 88, 1255-1263.
Meuwissen T.H.E., Hayes B.J. and Goddard M.E. (2001). Prediction of total genetic value using genome-wide dense marker maps. Genetics. 157, 1819-1829.
Morek-Kopec M. and Zarnecki A. (2017). Genetic evaluation for functional longevity in Polish Simmental cattle. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 62(7), 276-286.
Nilforooshan M.A. and Edriss M.A. (2004). Effect of age at first calving on some productive and longevity traits in Iranian Holsteins of the Isfahan province. J. Dairy Sci. 87, 2130-2135.
Pinedo P.J., De Vries A. and Webb D.W. (2010). Dynamics of culling risk with disposal codes reported by Dairy Herd Improvement dairy herds. J. Dairy Sci. 93, 2250-2261.
Raguz N., Jovanovac S., Meszaros G. and Solkner J. (2014). Linear vs. piecewise Weibull model for genetic evaluation of sires for longevity in Simmental cattle. Mljekarstvo. 64, 141-149.
Sasaki O. (2013). Estimation of genetic parameters for longevity traits in dairy cattle: A review with focus on the characteristics of analytical models. Anim. Sci. J. 84, 449-460.
Sewalem A., Miglior F., Kistemaker G.J., Sullivan P. and Van Doormaal B.J. (2008). Relationship between reproduction traits and functional longevity in Canadian dairy cattle. J. Dairy Sci. 91, 1660-1668.
Smith B.J. (2007). Boa: an R package for MCMC output convergence assessment and posterior inference. J. Stat. Soft. 21, 1-37.
Stanojević D., Đedović1 R., Bogdanović1 V., Raguž N., Popovac1 M., Janković D. and Štrbac L. (2016). Evaluation of the heritability coefficients of longevity in the population of Black and White cows in Serbia. Mljekarstvo. 66, 322-329.
Strapakova E., Candrak J., Strapak P. and Trakovicka A. (2014). Genetic evaluation of the functional productive life in Slovak Simmental cattle. Arch. Tierz. 56, 797-807.
Therneau T.M. and Lumley T. (2014). Package ‘survival’. WebMD.ahttps://tbrieder.org/epidata/course_reading/e_therneau.pdf. Accessed Feb. 2020.
Tsuruta S., Misztal I. and Lawlor T.J. (2005). Changing definition of productive life in US Holsteins: Effect on genetic correlations. J. Dairy Sci. 88, 1156-1165.
Van Arendonk J.A.M. (1985). Studies on the replacement policies in dairy cattle. II. Optimum policy and influence of changes in production and prices. Livest. Prod. Sci. 13, 101-112.
Vukasinovic N., Moll J. and Casanova L. (2001). Implementation of a routine genetic evaluation for longevity based on survival analysis techniques in dairy cattle populations in Switzerland. Dairy Sci. 84, 2073-2080.
Zavadilova L. and Stipkova M. (2012). Genetic correlations between longevity and conformation traits in the Czech Holstein population. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 57, 125-136.
