Genetic variation in surface temperature measured using infra-red thermography and genetic associations with production traits in grazing dairy cattle
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Date
2024-01-01
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Taylor and Francis Group
Rights
(c) 2024 The Author/s
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Abstract
Increasing global temperatures and the incidence of extreme weather conditions will result in heat stress becoming a greater issue in production animals. Genetic selection and breeding for heat-tolerant animals have been promoted as a possible mitigation strategy in dairy cattle. The objectives of this study were to obtain in-field skin temperature measurements of the eye, muzzle and udder using infra-red thermography to examine the genetic variation in skin temperature within cows of a dairy herd and to estimate the genetic correlations between skin temperature and production traits. Thermal images and herd test records were obtained for the dairy herd at Massey University’s dairy farm 1. Estimates of (co)variances were obtained using the JWAS program with univariate and bivariate animal models. The heritability estimates for the eye, muzzle and udder temperature were low to moderate at 0.20, 0.24 and 0.39, respectively. All genetic correlations between production and temperature traits were positive except for eye temperature with milk yield and protein yield which was negative and weak. These results indicate that it may be possible to select for a greater skin temperature, however, these results need to be validated using a larger sample size.
Description
Keywords
Heat stress, dairy cattle, thermotolerance, genetic parameters, heritability
Citation
Douie JS, Lopez-Villalobos N, Dukkipati VSR, Udy G. (2024). Genetic variation in surface temperature measured using infra-red thermography and genetic associations with production traits in grazing dairy cattle. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research. Ahead of Print.