Genomic selection is the future of dairy cattle breeding in the Russian Federation

Scientists of Stavropol SAU, specialists of the VNIIGRZH and representatives of the Irish Livestock Federation, decided to join forces to conduct joint research.

Joint scientific event on "Genomic technologies in agriculture" was held in St. Petersburg-Pushkin based in Union Research Institute of Livestock Genetics and Breeding on May 22-26. Among the participants was Sergey Aleksandrovich Oleinik, doctor of agricultural sciences, professor of the department of private zootechnics and animal breeding of the faculty of technological management of Stavropol State Agrarian University.

Dr. John Bruce Cole, head of the laboratory for animal welfare programs, part of the Agricultural Research Service at the US Department of Agriculture, addressed the audience. This laboratory tests and improvs the evaluation of economically significant features of dairy cattle and goats. Research activities are aimed at improving health features of the cattle. In his speech, John Bruce Cole talked about genomic selection, opportunities of improving efficiency of dairy farming and the role phenotypic features of dairy cattle in the genomic era.

Another speaker was the representative of the Irish Livestock Breeding Federation (ICBF) Dr. Matthew Charles McClure. He develops SNP chip for the genotyping one million of Irish livestock. He is an author of the methods for reducing the risk of genetic diseases, a highly accurate system of validation and control of genotyping, authenticity of origin and prediction of pedigree value of animals.

Dr. Jennifer Christine McClure also had something to share with colleagues. As a participant of many national and international projects of the Irish Livestock Federation associated with the cattle health and diseases, she assesses the impact of genetic defects and parasitic infections on economically important features of livestock.

Mikhail G. Smaragdov, head of the Laboratory of the molecular organization of the genome, candidate of biological sciences, who took part in programs on gene mapping and studying the molecular mechanisms of sex determination in animals, worked on the problem of identifying genes that affect the quality of milk. He informed the audience about the use of MDS, PCA and FST methods to study the diversity of Holstein cows in Leningrad Region. The head of the laboratory of DNA technologies of the All-Union Research Institute of Pedigree Affairs Lyubov Alexandrovna Kalashnikova discussed the possibilities of introducing a genomic evaluation of bulls in the Russian Federation with the participants of the workshop.

The result of the joint scientific event was agreement on joint genetic studies and genomic evaluation of breeding dairy cattle in the North Caucasus region by the efforts of the scientists of Stavropol State Agrarian University, experts of the FGBNU VNIIGRZH, and representatives of Irish Livestock Federation. 

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