Abstract:

Traits related to the calving abilities and workability of cows are essential for the dairy economy and the welfare of cows. The main goal of our study was to identify SNPs significantly associated with calving and workability traits, but having in mind the low heritability of those traits and then consequently the lack of genes with very strong individual effects, we also identified significant metabolic pathways and gene ontology terms. The data set originated from the EuroGenomics Holstein-Friesian population. All animals were genotyped or imputed to the Illumina BovineSNP50 BeadChip Version 2. The first step of the analysis was to identify significant SNPs and the second step comprised the estimation of pathway effects using a mixed effect model. The largest number of significant SNPs was detected for direct calving ease and for direct stillbirth Significant KEGG pathways and GO terms were identified.