Microbiability– new insights into (genetic) modelling methane emissions of cattle
Year: 2018
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Methane produced by methanogenic archaea in ruminants contributes significantly to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Inter-individual differences in methane (CH4) emission are affected by the individual’s genetics, environment (primarily feed and fodder) and also its rumen microbiome. Unlike other economic traits, controlling microbial CH4 production in dairy cattle through genetic selection strategies is in formative stages. Here we adapt existing quantitative methods to quantify the microbial contribution to CH4 emission and investigate the host genetics by microbiome interaction. The heritability (h2) of CH4 emissions was 0.19 ± 0.09 and the estimated proportion of rumen microbial variation to phenotypic variation (microbiability) was 0.15 ± 0.08. Estimating both effects jointly revealed a small interaction between the two sources of information. The moderate correlation (0.32) between estimates of individual’s genetic component and rumen microbial components confirmed this interaction. However, the correlation between an index of CH4 estimated breeding values (EBVS) with a combined index of CH4 EBVS and microbial values was 0.87, demonstrating that naivety of the rumen microbiome does not result in sever reranking of animals for this trait.
Institution: Aarhus University
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Zero hunger, Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2898392240