J. Anim Sci.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

J. Anim Sci. 2009. 87:E41-E47. doi:10.2527/jas.2008-1418
© 2009 American Society of Animal Science
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
jas.2008-1418v1
87/14_suppl/E41    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Moore, S. S.
Right arrow Articles by Sherman, E. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Moore, S. S.
Right arrow Articles by Sherman, E. L.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT SYMPOSIUM

Molecular basis for residual feed intake in beef cattle1

S. S. Moore2, F. D. Mujibi and E. L. Sherman

Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2P5

2 Corresponding author: stephen.moore{at}ualberta.ca

Feed provision is one of the greatest costs of beef production and, with the increasing costs of feed, will remain so for the foreseeable future. Improvement in efficiency has the potential to not only increase profits for cattle producers, but also to decrease the environmental footprint of beef cattle production. Both are important in addressing the challenges of increasing feed costs and land pressure. Residual feed intake (RFI) has increasingly become the measure of choice when evaluating feed efficiency in beef cattle, especially because it is independent of growth and BW. The main inhibitor to adoption of RFI remains the cost and technical difficulty in measuring the trait. This makes RFI a prime candidate for marker-assisted selection because the trait is moderately heritable and DNA or other predictive markers could be used in selection schemes. Although multiple markers have been described over several studies, no major gene affecting RFI has been found. However, a combination of genetic markers, when examined jointly, can explain a large proportion of the genetic variation. Two main barriers remain before full adoption of markers for genetic evaluation and marker-assisted selection can be implemented. First, the genetic interaction of genes affecting RFI on other traits is, as yet, not fully understood. Second the numbers of animals with high quality estimates of RFI remains small. However, current developments indicate that these challenges will soon be overcome.

Key Words: beef cattle • genetics • residual feed intake • single nucleotide polymorphism






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society of Animal Science.