Genetic parameters for clinical mastitis in Czech Holstein cattle

Abstract

Genetic parameters were estimated for clinical mastitis in Czech Holstein cattle. The datasets included 14 329 cows with 28 626 lactations. Clinical mastitis was defined as 0/1 occurrence per lactation. Single- or multi-trait repeatability linear animal models were employed for estimation of (co)variances and prediction of conventional or genomic breeding values. The inclusion of the random herd-year-month effect in the model was analysed. The estimated heritability for clinical mastitis ranged from 2.10% to 2.72%, while permanent environmental variance ratios or random herd-year-month effect ratios were twice higher than heritability. In the multi-trait models, udder type traits, such as fore udder attachment, rear udder attachment, rear udder width, front teat placement and udder depth, were employed. The highest genetic correlations of clinical mastitis occurred with rear udder width (0.41) and the lowest with front teat placement (–0.10). Both the multi-trait model and the genomic model provided breeding value estimates with higher reliability. In contrast, the model with random herd-year-season effects provided breeding values with lower accuracy.