Genetic analysis of longitudinal trajectory of clinical mastitis in first-lactation Norwegian cattle

Abstract

Clinical mastitis records for 36,178 first-lactation daughters of 245 Norwegian Cattle (NRF) sires were analyzed with a Bayesian longitudinal threshold model. For each cow, the period going from 30 d before calving to 300 d after calving was divided into 11 intervals of 30 d length each. Absence or presence of clinical mastitis within each interval was scored as "0" or "1", respectively. A Bayesian threshold model consisting of a set of explanatory variables plus Legendre polynomials on time of order four was used to describe the trajectory of liability to clinical mastitis. Heritability ranged between 0.07 and 0.13 before calving, from 0.04 to 0.15 during the first 270 d after calving, and increased sharply thereafter, as a consequence of the form of the polynomial. Genetic correlations between adjacent days were close to 1, and decreased when days were further apart. Most genetic correlations were moderate to high. A measure of probability of future daughters contracting clinical mastitis during lactation was computed for each sire. A typical curve had a peak near calving followed by a decrease thereafter. The best sires had a low peak around calving and a low expected probability of mastitis among daughters throughout lactation. Expected fraction of days without mastitis was derived from the probability curves and used for ranking of sires. Rank correlations with genetic evaluations of sires obtained from cross-sectional models were high. However, sire selection was affected markedly, especially at high selection intensity. An advantage of the longitudinal model for clinical mastitis is its ability to take multiple treatments and time aspects into account.