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Inbreeding Depression on Female Fertility and Calving Ease in Spanish Dairy Cattle

O. González-Recio^*,1, E. López de Maturana and J. P. Gutiérrez

^* Departamento de Producción Animal, E.T.S.I. Agrónomos, Universidad Politécnica, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Departamento de Sanidad y Producción Animal, NEIKER-TECNALIA, Granja Modelo de Arkaute. P.O. Box 46, 01080 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avda. Puerta de Hierro s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain

¹ Corresponding author: oscar.grecio{at}upm.es

Inbreeding depression on female fertility and calving ease in Spanish dairy cattle was studied by the traditional inbreeding coefficient (F) and an alternative measurement indicating the inbreeding rate (F) for each animal. Data included records from 49,497 and 62,134 cows for fertility and calving ease, respectively. Both inbreeding measurements were included separately in the routine genetic evaluation models for number of insemination to conception (sequential threshold animal model) and calving ease (sire-maternal grandsire threshold model). The F was included in the model as a categorical effect, whereas F was included as a linear covariate. Inbred cows showed impaired fertility and tended to have more difficult calvings than low or noninbred cows. Pregnancy rate decreased by 1.68% on average for cows with F from 6.25 to 12.5%. This amount of inbreeding, however, did not seem to increase dystocia incidence. Inbreeding depression was larger for F greater than 12.5%. Cows with F greater than 25% had lower pregnancy rate and higher dystocia rate (–6.37 and 1.67%, respectively) than low or noninbred cows. The F had a significant effect on female fertility. A F = 0.01, corresponding to an inbreeding coefficient of 5.62% for the average equivalent generations in the data used (5.68), lowered pregnancy rate by 1.5%. However, the posterior estimate for the effect of F on calving ease was not significantly different from zero. Although similar patterns were found with both F and F, the latter detected a lowered pregnancy rate at an equivalent F, probably because it may consider the known depth of the pedigree. The inbreeding rate might be an alternative choice to measure inbreeding depression.

Key Words: inbreeding depression • female fertility • calving ease