Browsing by Subject "ominaisuus"

Animal population can be improved by domestic selection and/or with importation of foreign genotypes. The aim of this study was to find out how big impact import of genetic material from different countries has had on genetic trends of different traits in Finnish Holstein and Ayrshire populations. The data were received from FABA co-op. The analyzes utilized breeding values and pedigree information from over 1 million Holsteins and over 2 million Ayrshires born between 1986 – 2019. Genetic trends were calculated annually and partitioned to country contributions using R-software’s package ‘AlphaPart’. Used method is based on partitioning the breeding values to Mendelian sampling terms and the genetic effect of the base population founder animals. The largest proportion of Holstein genes in Finnish population was from the USA. Animals from the USA had the greatest positive impact on the total merit, yield, longevity and udder conformation. By contrast they also had the biggest negative impact on fertility and general health. Gene proportion from Denmark was the third largest from the foreign countries, but it had the greatest positive impact on fertility, udder health, calving ease (maternal) and general health. It also had the second biggest positive impact on all the other traits among foreign countries. Foreign animals have had a smaller impact on the Finnish Ayrshire population compared to Holstein. In many traits the contribution of Finnish breeding animals stayed the greatest. For foreign countries importations from Sweden had the greatest contribution to genes and most of the traits. Gene proportion from Denmark has increased rapidly after year 2010. Both Swedish and Danish importations have had a similar impact, improving the total merit, yield, longevity, calving ease (maternal) and udder conformation. Both Swedish and Danish animals have had a negative contribution to general health. According to the results of this study, we can conclude that importations of genetic material from foreign countries have had a major impact on the Finnish populations during the last decades. Especially for Holstein, the importations from USA and Denmark have had a significant impact on the local genetic trends.