Department of Animal Science
Date of this Version
2016
Citation
From: 2016 Beef Improvement Federation Annual Meeting & Symposium, June 14 - 17, 2016, Hilton Garden Inn, Manhattan, Kansas.
Abstract
Unfortunately, the amount of feed intake data available to U.S. beef breed associations is spars compared to the amount of data available for growth traits. This makes traditional pedigree-based genetic evaluation for feed intake or efficiency challenging. However, progress in this trait complex could be made as we know that dry matter intake and various “efficiency” traits would respond favorably to selection. Table 1 below depicts the heritability (on the diagonal) and genetic correlations (on the off diagonal) of several feed efficiency traits.