Alfredo Lepori Honeyman

Citation

Thesis Title
Genomic Selection for Traits of Economic Importance in New Zealand Sheep

Read article at Massey Research Online:

The discovery of DNA genetic markers enables the use of genomic selection to improve animal production. It has been suggested that genomic selection enables fastest rates of genetic gains than is achieved by using only phenotypic information. The objective of this thesis was to analyse the impact on genetic gain of including genomic information for production traits into a multi-trait sheep-breeding programme. Mr Lepori developed deterministic and stochastic simulation models, in order to demonstrate the benefit of conjointly incorporating genomic and phenotypic information into sheep breeding programmes.  Results showed that the population used to predict relationships between genetic markers and production traits must be genetically close to the population in which genomic selection is to occur, thereby enabling the maintenance of genomic breeding value accuracy. The study demonstrated that a breeding programme combining genomic selection and phenotypic BLUP breeding values could increase genetic responses by selecting animals at younger ages.

Supervisors
Professor Nicolas Lopez-Villalobos
Professor Hugh Blair