Production and health in a dairy cattle herd depends not only on external factors such as feed and environment, but also to a large extent on the genetic level of individual animals. Thus there is a great potential for increasing the economic gain as well as animal welfare over time, by selecting animals with a high genetic level as parents for the next generation. In recent years this selection has become more precise, as it is now possible to evaluate an animal’s breeding potential directly from its DNA, using a method known as ‘genomic prediction’.

In his PhD project Rasmus Froberg Brøndum has worked on different methods to improve genomic prediction by combining DNA data from cattle populations across breeds and borders. The results have shown that for closely related cattle populations, the reliability of genomic prediction can be increased by combining data. Furthermore, methods that recognize patterns in DNA can be used to increase the amount of available DNA data with high precision. This means that smaller and thereby cheaper DNA datasets can be used with only a minor impact on the reliability of genomic prediction.
Results from the project are used for the routine evaluation of cattle in Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

The PhD degree was completed at the Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Science and Technology, Aarhus University

Time: Friday 14 June 2013 at 13.30
Place: The Lecture Theatre, Research Centre Foulum, Aarhus University
Title of the dissertation: Genomic Predictions Using Combined Populations and SNP Marker Panels
Contact information: Rasmus F. Brøndum, e-mail: rasmusf.brondum@agrsci.dk, tel: 8715 4984
Members of the assesment committee:
Professor Theodorus Meuwissen, Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), Norway
Senior Research Scientist Didier Boichard, Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative (GABI), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), France
Professor Just Jensen (chair), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Main supervisor:
Senior scientist Guosheng Su, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
Co-supervisor:
Professor Mogens Sandø Lund, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
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 C.