During his PhD studies, Setegn Worku Alemu investigated social interactions in group-housed animals. Social interactions may reduce the productivity and welfare of animals, leading to bite marks in group-housed mink, for example, and cannibalism in laying hens.

In his dissertation, Setegn Worku Alemu investigated whether genetic selection with social genetic effects can reduce bite marks in group-housed mink and can increase the response to selection for survival time in brown layers showing cannibalistic behaviour. The results show that social genetic effects contribute a substantial amount of heritable variation for bite mark traits in group-housed mink, so that total genetic variance is large, and the response to genomic selection is substantially higher for brown layers showing cannibalistic behaviour.

These findings indicate that there are good prospects for producing mink that have a low level of biting and laying hens that show little cannibalism.

The PhD degree was completed at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Science and Technology, Aarhus University, and the Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences (WIAS), Wageningen University.

Time: Wednesday 3 June 2015 at 11.00
Place: Main Hall, building 362, Wageningen University, Generaal Foulkesweg 1, 6703 BG Wageningen, the Netherlands
Title of dissertation: Social genetic effects in group-housed animals
Contact information: Setegn Worku Alemu, setegnw.alemu@mbg.au.dk, +45 7149 3621
Members of the assessment committee:
Professor Marc Naguib, Behavioural Ecology Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
Professor Erling Strandberg, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Professor Just Jensen (chair), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Director of Research Gerard A. Albers, Hendrix Genetics, Boxmeer, the Netherlands
Main Supervisor:
Senior Researcher Luc G. Janss, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Co-supervisors:
Assistant Professor Piter Bijma, Animal Breeding and Genetics Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
Section Leader Peer Berg, NordGen Farm Animals, Nordic Genetic Resource Centre, Norway
Language: The dissertation will be defended in English

The defence is public.
The dissertation is available for reading at the Graduate School of Science and Technology/GSST, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1521, room 112, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark, and at Radix, building 107, room E0.222, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg O 1, PO Box 338, 6700 AH Wageningen, the Netherlands.