Evaluating genotype by environment interaction for growth traits in Limousine cattle

Abstract

Environmental conditions affect the growth and health of animals, making it crucial to quantify heat stress and the genetic basis of heat tolerance in animal breeding. The main objective of this study was to evaluate heat stress on growth and investigate the genetic background of tolerance to harsh environmental conditions in the Italian Limousine beef cattle. Three growth traits were analysed: average daily gain (ADG), weaning weight (WW), and yearling weight (YW). Data were collected from animals raised between 1991 and 2022 and combined with 14 environmental covariates. Records for ADG, WW, and YW encompassed 108 205, 100 058, and 24 939 individuals, respectively, with 4 617, 4 670, and 2 048 genotyped individuals. Climatic variables were compared for inclusion in a linear mixed model using the Deviance Information Criterion. Multiple-trait models and genomic information incorporated environmental conditions with the largest impact on the studied traits Genotype by environment interaction (G × E) was detected in all the studied traits, showing substantial heterogeneity of the variance components across the different environments (Env). Heritability for WW remains constant among Env; instead, for ADG and YW decreased under uncomfortable environmental conditions. YW showed the lowest genetic correlation (0.28) between divergent conditions (Env 2 and Env 5,) for ADG and WW correlations dropped below 0.50 among Env. The values of genetic correlations indicate that growth traits are moderately to strongly affected by G × E. Eigenvalue decomposition of the additive genetic (co)variance matrix for ADG, WW, and YW indicated that three components accounted for over 0.80 of the proportion of the variance explained, suggesting different animal performances across Env. Spearman rank correlations showed potential re-ranking of genotyped sires, because ADG, WW, and YW showed correlations between Env below 0.80. The accuracy of single-step genomic EBV was higher compared to EBV for al traits. Overall, the result confirms the existence of G × E for growth traits in the Italian Limousine population. Including G × E in the model allows for more environment-aware predictions, helping breeders understand how different genetic bases respond to varying conditions. Genomic predictions incorporating G × E could accelerate genetic gains and improve response to selection for heat tolerance.