Design and phenotyping procedures for recording wool, skin, parasite resistance, growth, carcass yield and quality traits of the SheepGENOMICS mapping flock
Jason D. White A M , Peter G. Allingham B , Chris M. Gorman A , David L. Emery C , Philip Hynd D , John Owens E , Amy Bell F , Jason Siddell H K , Greg Harper B , Ben J. Hayes G , Hans D. Daetwyler G , Jonathan Usmar C , Mike E. Goddard A G , John M. Henshall F , Sonja Dominik F , Heather Brewer F , Julius H. J. van der Werf H , Frank W. Nicholas C , Robyn Warner G , Chris Hofmyer G , Terry Longhurst I , Troy Fisher J , Paul Swan J , Rob Forage I J L and V. Hutton Oddy H M
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A School of Veterinary Science, University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia.
B CSIRO Livestock Industries, Queensland Biosciences Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Qld 4067, Australia.
C Department of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
D Department of Animal Science, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, SA 5371, Australia.
E Future Livestock, Yarraville, Vic. 3013, Australia.
F CSIRO Livestock Industries, Chiswick Laboratories, Uralla, NSW 2358, Australia.
G Biosciences Research Division, Department of Primary Industries Victoria, Bundoora, Vic. 3083, Australia.
H Environment and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
I Meat & Livestock Australia, Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia.
J Australian Wool Innovation Ltd, George Street, Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia.
K Present address: Department of Primary Industries, Glen Innes, NSW 2370, Australia.
L Present address: University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 1466, Australia.
M Corresponding author. Email: hutton.oddy@une.edu.au; jasondw@unimelb.edu.au
Animal Production Science 52(3) 157-171 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN11085
Submitted: 24 May 2011 Accepted: 13 January 2012 Published: 2 March 2012
Journal Compilation © CSIRO Publishing 2012 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
A major aim of the research program known as SheepGENOMICS was to deliver DNA markers for commercial breeding programs. To that end, a resource flock was established, comprehensively phenotyped and genotyped with DNA markers. The flock of nearly 5000 sheep, born over two consecutive years, was extensively phenotyped, with more than 100 recorded observations being made on most of the animals. This generated more than 460 000 records over 17 months of gathering information on each animal. Here, we describe the experimental design and sample-collection procedures, and provide a summary of the basic measurements taken. Data from this project are being used to identify collections of genome markers for estimating genomic breeding values for new sheep industry traits.
Additional keywords: commercial traits, QTL screen, sheep phenotypes.
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