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Success of the 30th International INTERBULL Congress organized by FGE

 A booming participation

From August 23th to 25th 2013, France Génétique Elevage hosted the 30th Annual International Meeting of Interbull in Nantes, France. It has been held as a satellite event of the Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production (EAAP - August 26 to 30 2013).

Organized by France Génétique Elevage, the French member of Interbull, in collaboration with the Institut de l’Elevage and with financial support from FranceAgriMer, this conference, as a reference for national and international research on genetic and genomic bovine evaluations, welcomed nearly 250 sector leaders, from 41 neighboring countries (Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Morocco) or more distant (United States, Canada, Brazil, Uruguay, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa).

Note that the next Interbull congress will be held in Berlin on 20 and 21 May 2014.

 Interbull, international organization for genetic evaluation

Interbull is an international non-profit organization founded in 1983 aiming at standardizing methods for comparison of bulls between countries. As a neutral organization, it ensures reliable methods for comparing breeding values as direct comparisons are impossible (difference of evaluation methods, of measurement units, ...).

In 1988, with the support of EAAP (European Association for Animal Production), IDF (International Dairy Federation) and FAO Interbull became a permanent subcommittee of ICAR (International Committee for Animal Recording). Since 1991, its operational center is in Sweden, Uppsala.

In 1994 and 1995, Interbull made the first international genetic evaluations with the participation of eight countries, including France. Nowadays 30 countries participate in these international breeding evaluations, for 6 races and 40 characters (milk production, morphology, udder health, fertility, longevity ...).

Until recently international genetic evaluation were specifically targeting dairy cattle breeds. Through the Interbeef project, this service is now open to beef breeds as well.

In addition to these services, Interbull provides technical support and foster information exchange among its country members through the organization’s annual conference, workshops on specific themes (fertility, genomics ...), the distribution of its newsletters and its website.

For 10 years, Interbull is recognized by the European Commission and zootechnical regulations of the European Union as the reference laboratory for genetic evaluation.

The French representative to the Interbull Steering Committee is Sophie Mattalia of Institut de l’Elevage.

 All the scientific presentations

The Annual Congress of Interbull is the international reference for research on genetic and genomic bovine evaluations. The 2013 edition was no exception to the rule with 45 its papers in for thematic sessions:

• S1 : Advances in genomic selection
• S2 and S3 : National and international genetic evaluations
• S4 : Breeding strategies and new traits
• S5 : Functional traits
• S6 : Maternal traits & genetic variability

SESSION 1: Advances in genomic selection

• S1-1 Genomic haplotyping improves detection of traits, breeds, ancestry and paternity. R. Dawkins,
• D. Bayard and J. Williamson - UWA and CYO – Australia

• S1-2 Should markers on X-chromosome be used for genomic predictions? G. Su, B. Guldbrandtsen,
• G.P. Aamand, M.S. Lund and I. Strandén - Aarhus University, Nordic Cattle Genetic Evaluation – Denmark

• S1-3 Development of a custom SNP chip for dairy and beef cattle breeding, parentage and research. M. Mullen,M.C. McClure, S.M. Waters, R. Weld, P. Flynn, C.J. Creevey, J.F. Kearney, A.R. Cromie and D.P. Berry – Teagasc – Ireland

• S1-4 Sequence genotype imputation in cattle. F.S. Schenkel, M. Sargolzaei, R. Ventura and F. Miglior - University of Guelph – Canada

• S1-5 Genomic analysis of dominance effects in milk production and conformation traits of Fleckvieh cattle. J. Ertl, A. Legarra, Z. Vitezica, L. Varona, C. Edel, R. Emmerling and K.-U. Götz - Bavarian Research Centre for Agriculture, Institute of Animal Breeding – Germany

• S1-6 Maternal grandsire verification and detection without imputation. J.-T. van Kaam and B. Hayes – Anafi – Italy

SESSION 2: National and international genetic evaluations

• S2-1 Non parametric vs GBLUP model for genomic evaluation with large reference population in Holstein cattle. N. Charfeddine, S.T. Rodriguez Ramilo, J. A. Jiménez, M.J. Carabaño and O. Gonzalez Recio - CONAFE-INIA-ETSIA Madrid - Spain

• S2-2 Exploring Global Interbull EBV in domestic single step genomic evaluation. L. Vostry and L. Zavadilova - Institute of Animal Science - Czech Republic

• S2-3 Single step evaluations using haplotype segments. E.A. Mäntysaari, M. Makgahlela, T. Knürr,
• G.P. Aamand and I. Strandén - Agrifood Research Finland, Biotechonolgy and Food Science, Biometrical Genetics - Finland

• S2-4 Use of low-coverage sequence for genomic predictions. J.M. Hickey, M.A. Cleveland and G. Gorjanc - The Roslin Institute - United Kingdom

• S2-5 Genetic prediction: integrating infinitesimal and marked genetic effects. E. Manfredi, C. Carre, G. Gorjanc, D. Cros, F. Gamboa - INRA, Université Paul Sabatier, Ljubljana – France and Slovenia

• S2-6 Genetic evaluation using unsymmetric single step genomic methodology with large number of genotypes. I. Aguilar,A. Legarra, S. Tsuruta and I. Misztal – INIA - Uruguay

• S2-7 G-BLUP without inverting the geneomic relationship matrix. P. Madsen and J. Ødegård - Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Aarhus University - Denmark

• S2-8 Comparison of model reliabilities from single-step and bivariate blending methods. M. Taskinen, E. A. Mäntysaari, M.H. Lidauer, J. Pösö, G. Su, G.P. Aamand, I. Strandén - MTT Agrifood Research Finland - Finland

SESSION 3: National and international genetic evaluations

• S3-1 Detection of genomic pre-selection with Mendelian sampling variance test. A.-M. Tyrisevä,
• E.A. Mäntysaari, J. Jakobsen, G.P. Aamand, J. Dürr, W.F. Fikse and M.H. Lidauer - MTT Agrifood Research Finland - Finland

• S3-2 Measuring genomic pre-selection in theory and in practice. P. Van Raden and J. Wright - USDA-AIPL - USA

• S3-3 Comparison of national genomic predictions of EuroGenomics exchanged young bulls. Z. Liu and EuroGenomics coauthors – VIT - Germany

• S3-4 Illustration of an international genetic evaluation robust to inconsistencies of genetic trends in national evaluations. H. Benhajali, J. Jakobsen, S. Mattalia and V. Ducrocq - Institut de l’élevage, Interbull and INRA – France

• S3-5 Impact of including a large number of female genotypes on genomic selection. B. Harris, D. Johnson and A. Winkelman – LIC - New Zealand

• S3-6 Effect of cows in the reference population: First results in Swiss Brown Swiss. B. Bapst,C. Baes, F. Seefried and B. Gredler - Qualitas AG - Switzerland

• S3-7 Walloon single step genomic evaluation system integrating local and MACE EBV. F. Colinet,
• J. Vandenplas, P. Faux, S. Vanderick and N. Gengler - University of Liege, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech - Belgium

• S3-8 Using pseudo-observations to combine genomic and conventional data in the Dutch national evaluation . W.M. Stoop, H. Eding, M.L. van Pelt, L.C.M. de Haer and G. de Jong – CRV - The Netherlands

SESSION 4: Breeding strategies and new traits

• S4-1 An update of the National breeding objective for the New Zealand dairy industry. P. Amer, J. Bryant, T. Byrne, B. Santos and B. Visscher – AbacusBio - New Zealand

• S4-2 Increasing long term response by selecting for favorable minor alleles. C. Sun and P. Van Raden - National Association of Animal Breeders - USA

• S4-3 Comparison of genomic selection approaches for small breeds. C. Hoze, P. Croiseau and V. Ducrocq - INRA / UNCEIA – France

• S4-4 Selection on feed intake or feed efficiency: gDMI breeding goal discussion. R. Veerkamp, J. Pryce, D. Spurlock, D. Berry, M. Coffey, P. Lovendahl, R. van der Linde, J. Bryant, F. Miglior, Z. Wang, M. Winters, N. Buttchereit, N. Charfeddinne, J. Pedersen and Y. de Haas - ABGC, Wageningen UR - The Netherlands

• S4-5 International genetic evaluations for feed intake in dairy cattle. D. Berry, M.P. Coffey, J.E. Pryce, Y. de Haas, P. Lovendahl, G. Thaller, J.J. Crowley, D. Spurlock, K. Weigel, K. MacDonald and R.F. Veerkamp – Teagasc - Ireland

• S4-6 Genomic breeding values for claw health in Norwegian Red. C. Ødegård, M. Svendsen and
• B. Heringstad - Geno / Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life
• Sciences - Norway

• S4-7 Simulation study on heterogeneous variance adjustment for observations with different measurement error variance. T. Pitkänen, E.A. Mäntysaari, U.S. Nielsen, G.P. Aamand, P. Madsen and M.H. Lidauer - MTT Agrifood Research Finland – Finland

SESSION 5: Functional traits

• S5-1 Genetic relationship between clinical mastitis and several traits of interest in Spanish Holstein dairy cattle. M. A. Perez-Cabal and N. Charfeddine – Conafe - Spain

• S5-2 Preliminary results from a genetic analysis of clinical mastitis data for holstein cattle in Czech Republic. L. Zavadilová, M. Štípková and V. Zink - Institute of Animal Science, Prague - Czech Republic

• S5-3 Genetic and genomic evaluation of mastitis resistance in Canada. B. J. Van Doormaal, A. Koeck, J. Jamrozik, F. Miglior, G. Kistemaker, F. Schenkel and D. Kelton - Canadian Dairy Network - Canada

• S5-4 New genetic evaluation of fertility in Swiss Brown Swiss cattle. B. Gredler and U. Schnyder - Qualitas AG - Switzerland

• S5-5 Genetic evaluation of fertility related disorders in Norwegian Red. K. Haugaard and B. Heringstad - Norwegian University of Life Sciences - Norway

• S5-6 Heifer fertility and relationships with cow fertility in The Netherlands. P. Vessies, L. de Haer, G. de Jong – CRV - The Netherlands

• S5-7 Genetic analysis of female fertility traits in beef cattle in the Czech Republic. Z. Vesela and L. Vostry - Institute of Animal Science - Czech Republic

• S5-8 Development of breeding values for mastitis derived from SCS results. H. Täubert, F.-K. Stock and F. Reinhardt – VIT – Germany

SESSION 6: Maternal traits & genetic variability

• S6-1 Evaluating maternal traits in Austrian Murboden cattle: Genetic parameters and inbreeding depression. S. Eaglen, J. Soelkner, B. Fuerst-Waltl and C. Fuerst - Universität für Bodenkultur Wien - Austria

• S6-2 Evaluation of maternal cow traits and the complex nature of an overall female replacement index . R. Evans, T. Pabiou and A. Cromie – ICBF - Ireland

• S6-3 Genetic evaluation of calving ease for Walloon Holstein dairy cattle. P. Faux, S. Vanderick, T. Troch, A. Gillon, G. Glorieux and N. Gengler - University of Liege, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech - Belgium

• S6-4 International genetic evaluation of calving traits in beef cattle. P. Bucek, Z. Vesela and L. Vostry – Czech Moravian Breeders´ Corporation, Inc., Institute of Animal - Czech Republic

• S6-5 New French genetic evaluations of fertility and productive life of beef cows. E. Venot, P. Schneider, S. Miller and F. Phocas – Inra - France

• S6-6 Simple approach to incorporate univariate Interbeef weanning weight evaluations into national multivariate models. R. Mrode, K. Moore and M. Coffey – SRUC – United Kingdom

• S6-7 Using the information collected for genetic evaluation to assess the French ruminant and equine breeds’ genetic variability. C. Danchin-Burge, L. François, D. Laloe, G. Leroy and E. Verrier - Institut de l’élevage – France