Genetic parameters for milk urea and its relationship with milk yield and compositions in Holstein dairy cows

PLoS One. 2021 Jun 18;16(6):e0253191. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253191. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

The aim was to estimate genetic parameters for milk urea (MU) concentration and its relationship with milk yield and compositions in Holstein dairy Cows. Edited data were 90,594 test-day records of milk yield and composition collected during 2015 to 2018 on 13,737 lactations obtained from 7,850 Holstein cows in 50 herds. Random regression test-day model was used to estimate genetic parameters. (Co)variance components were estimated with the Bayesian Gibbs sampling method using a single chain of 400,000 iterates. The first 50,000 iterates of each chain were regarded as a burn-in period. Mean (SD) of MU was 23.03 (5.99) and 22.41 (5.74) mg/dl in primiparous and multiparous cows, respectively. Average heritability estimates for daily MU was 0.33 (SD = 0.02) ranged 0.29 to 0.36 and 0.32 (SD = 0.03) ranged 0.27 to 0.34, respectively, for primiparous and multiparous cows. The mean (SD) genetic correlation between MU and milk yield, fat yield, protein yield, lactose yield, fat percentage, protein percentage, lactose percentage, and somatic cell score was, respectively, -0.02 (0.03), -0.02 (0.01), 0.01 (0.04), 0.01 (0.03), 0.00 (0.07), -0.03 (0.04), 0.00 (0.01), -0.11 (0.06) in primiparous cows. The corresponding values in multiparous cows were -0.01 (0.02), -0.01 (0.03), -0.04 (0.04), -0.04 (0.04), 0.04 (0.04), 0.04 (0.07), -0.03 (0.09), 0.06 (0.11), respectively. The results indicate that selection on MU is possible with no effect on milk yield or compositions, however, relationships between MU and other important traits such as longevity, metabolic diseases, and fertility are needed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Cattle
  • Fats / analysis*
  • Female
  • Milk / chemistry*
  • Urea / analysis*

Substances

  • Fats
  • Urea

Grants and funding

This project received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (Brussels, Belgium) for research, technological development, and demonstration, under grant agreement no. 613689. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.