Jan Philipsson

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | SLU · Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics

The main objective of this study was to estimate genetic correlations between fertility and production in first and second lactations as well as between fertility traits measured in the same way at different ages. The analyses were carried out for Swedish Red and White cows born from 1986 to 1996, in total about 578 000, 430 000, and 221 000 record...

The aim of this article was to study opportunities for improvement of the indigenous and threatened Red Maasai sheep (RM) in Kenya, by comparing purebreeding with crossbreeding with Dorper sheep (D) as a terminal breed, in two different environments (Env. A and a harsher Env. B), assuming different levels of genotype-by-environment interaction (G??...

Meat production is the most important trait in the breeding objectives of sheep production in East Africa. The aim of this study was to investigate breed differences in live weight, conformation, carcass traits and economic values for meat production among Red Maasai and Dorper sheep and their crosses. In total, 88 ram lambs, which were reared at t...

Milkability and udder conformation traits of Swedish Holstein (SH) and Swedish Red (SR) cows from 93 herds with automatic milking systems or conventional milking parlors were used to study genetic relationships to lactation average somatic cell score (LSCS) and incidence of clinical mastitis (CM). Estimated genetic correlations between measures of...

Automatic milking systems (AMS) allow recording of alternative milkability measures. Our objectives were to estimate genetic parameters for teat cup attachment failures (AtF), incomplete milkings (IM), and handling time (HT), and their genetic correlations with box time (BT), udder traits and temperament. Teat coordinates were to measure udder conf...

Crossing local breeds with exotic breeds may be an option for increased livestock productivity. However, there is a risk for endangerment of the local breeds. One such case is in Kenya where the imported Dorper breed is used for crossbreeding with Red Maasai sheep. The aim of this study was to investigate farmers' trait preferences as a basis for d...

Breeding programmes described as community-based (CBBP) typically relate to low-input systems with farmers having a common interest to improve and share their genetic resources. CBBPs are more frequent with keepers of small ruminants, in particular smallholders of local breeds, than with cattle, pigs or chickens with which farmers may have easier a...

Breeding programmes for warmblood sport horses are similar in the Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway, and stallions of same origin are used. The aim was to investigate whether a joint Nordic genetic evaluation based on lifetime competition performance is feasible and beneficial for breeding competitive sport horses in the Nordic c...

Abstract Text: The Red Maasai sheep breed is under threat due to indiscriminate crossbreeding and strategies are needed to conserve and improve the breed. The aim of this study was to understand farmers’ preferences for important traits of flocks of Red Maasai, Dorper and crosses in two different areas, Amboseli and Isinya, in Kenya. Farmers identi...

Abstract Text: With completion of the horse genome sequence in 2007, the potential of close international collaboration of researchers was impressively demonstrated, and an important step for genomic research in horses was taken. Since then, several European scientists have significantly contributed to the development of tools and strategies for us...

Objective: To determine associations of health status and conformation with competition longevity and lifetime performance in young Swedish Warmblood riding horses. Design: Cohort study and genetic analysis. Animals: 8,238 horses. Procedures: Horses were examined for health, conformation, and performance from 1983 to 2005, when they were 4 t...

Health in horses is thought to be influenced by conformation traits, including limb deviations. As few studies on the subject are available, the relevance of selecting for specific conformation traits to improve health is uncertain. The objective was to determine the genetic variation in conformation and relationships between conformation and healt...

Young horse performance test data from two warmblood riding horse populations, Norwegian warmblood (NWB) and Swedish warmblood (SWB), were analysed to examine whether including information from a related studbook would increase the accuracy of the genetic evaluations within a population. Ten conformation and performance traits from 31,588 horses, 7...

The overall objective of this study was to assess the use of in-line recorded milkability information from dairy herds with conventional milking parlors (CMP) and from herds with automatic milking systems (AMS) for genetic evaluation. Some genetic parameters were previously studied on AMS data for 2,053 Swedish Holstein (SH) and 1,749 Swedish Red (...

Uniquely selected breeds bred over thousands of years of domestication in a wide range of environments have been declared extinct over the last century. Still more breeds are at risk of becoming extinct and the rate continues to accelerate. Assessing the current status and possible future dynamics of livestock breeds is therefore a critical step in...

The objective of this study was to investigate how useful data from automatic milking systems used in commercial herds are for genetic analysis of milkability traits. Data were available from 4,968 Swedish Holstein and Swedish Red cows over a span of 5 yr (2004-2009) from 19 herds. The analyzed milkability traits were average flow rate, box time, m...

The Global Plan of Action (GPA) for Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR) adopted by FAO recognizes the role of AnGR for food security through improved productivity while maintaining genetic diversity. A critical issue for conservation and genetic improvement programmes is the availability of supportive infrastructure. The objective of the present study...

Background: Soundness of an individual horse is important for animal welfare and owner economy. However, knowledge of health status in normal horse populations is limited due to lack of systematic health recordings. The aim of the investigation was to study the prevalence of veterinary clinical findings in 4-5-year-old Swedish warmblood riding hor...

Background Soundness is important for welfare and utility of the riding horse. Musculoskeletal disorders are the most common causes of interruption in training and of culling. Despite great importance, heritability of a majority of health traits in horses has previously not been estimated. The objective was to perform genetic analyses of medical an...

Indigenous livestock breeds are generally well adapted to harsh tropical environments. Some breeds are drought and disease tolerant - attributes important for adaptation to climate change. Due to inadequate selective breeding, indigenous breeds are often unproductive. Instead, cross- breeding with exotic breeds has been practiced, mostly indiscrimi...

a b s t r a c t A bio-economic model was adapted to estimate economic values for important traits of two Ethiopian indigenous sheep breeds, the Menz and Horro breeds. To do so, a meat sheep herd for fattening lambs and rearing young replacement sheep was simulated. Traits included in the analysis were: daily gain (fattening trait), live weight of e...

• Genomic selection tools are radically changing the way dairy cattle genetics is organized worldwide by providing the means to reduce generation intervals and accelerate genetic progress. As a result, young genomically selected bulls are quickly replacing progeny-tested bulls in the top lists. • To achieve moderate reliabilities in genomic predict...

The aim of the study was to investigate the possibilities of using number of years in competition as a measure of durability in the genetic evaluation of Swedish Warmblood horses. Competition results recorded between 1971 and 2008 in the disciplines dressage, show jumping and eventing were used to estimate genetic parameters for number of years in...

Since 1999, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in partnership with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) have been providing capacity building on the sustainable use of Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR) through the novel approach of “training the trainers”. Scientists from 46 developing countries in Sub-Saharan Afri...

The main breeding objective for the Swedish Warmblood horse (SWB) is to produce competitive horses in show jumping or dressage. The aims of this study were to investigate the genetic trends of SWB and the factors affecting the genetic progress. The realised genetic trend was studied separately for stallions and mares using the relative breeding val...

A large proportion of dairy foods consumed by humans are produced using milk from commercial dairy breeds. The result of high selection intensities, narrow breeding objectives and ignoring inbreeding in past decades is that much attention now needs to be given to conserving these commercial breeds to maintain and increase food production and meet f...

Disturbances in skeletal development, primarily osteochondrosis (OC) and palmar/plantar osseous fragments (POF), have been commonly reported as problems in young horses. However, there are few reports of such findings for epidemiological analyses or breeding purposes. To evaluate equine hospital data as a possible source of information for genetic...

The aim of this study was to compare different scenarios for bull dam selection in a nucleus herd. A deterministic simulation study using selection index methodology was undertaken. In the scenarios studied, differing amounts of information on functional traits were available when bull dams were selected, and the resulting genetic responses in thes...

To facilitate livestock improvement in developing countries, records on animal populations and their various productivity levels are important. However, in these countries, livestock recording presents a huge challenge. This paper presents an outline of the historical developments and the current scenario in dairy and beef recording in Kenya, where...

Reyna Creole cattle in Nicaragua comprise about 650 purebred animals, and the breed has been shown to have a high level of inbreeding. To characterize the breed, as basis for a conservation program, information from two herds on birth weight (BW, n = 1097), age at first calving (AFC, n = 449) and calving interval (CI, n = 1,347) was analysed. Overa...

Data from a Boran cattle breeding scheme, run by the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia, were analysed by separating the genetic and environmental trends in growth traits. The data used included weight records at birth (BW), weaning (WW), and as yearlings (YW), for animals born between 1959 and 1985. The mean generation interval calculated was 6.7...

We conducted a two-part study in the native home areas of four cattle breeds, Abigar, Gurage, Horro and Sheko, in south-western Ethiopia. The first part of the study investigated livestock keeper knowledge about trypanosomosis and trypanotolerance. For each breed 60 livestock keepers were interviewed, resulting in a total of 240 interviews. The sec...

The effects of calving intervals of 12 and 15 months on milk yield and milk composition were studied in 105 Swedish Red and White (SRB) and 46 Swedish Holstein (SLB) cows with 280 initiated lactations and 165 completed lactations (followed by another calving). The cows were divided into two groups, one early inseminated and the other late inseminat...

The effects of grazing during summer and possible interaction effects between breed and management system on milk production and postpartum reproductive performance were studied in 93 Swedish Red and White (SRB), Swedish Holstein (SLB) and Swedish Jersey (SJB) cows with 214 initiated lactations. The cows were divided into two groups: zero-grazing w...

For Swedish Warmblood sport horses, breeding values (BVs) are predicted using a multiple-trait animal model with results from competitions and young horse performance tests. Data go back to the beginning of the 1970s, and earlier studies have indicated that some of the recorded traits have changed through the years. The objective of this study was...

Reyna Creole cattle originated from Bos taurus cattle brought to Latin America during the Spanish colonization in the fifteenth century and are the only remaining local breed in Nicaragua. However, the current genetic status of this breed is unknown. Therefore, the population structure of three recorded Reyna Creole herds in Nicaragua was studied t...

The progeny (N=793) of 24 Swedish Standardbred trotter stallions were used for genetic studies on radiographic findings of osteochondrosis (OC) in the tarsocrural (hock) joint and palmar/plantar osteochondral fragments (POF) in the metacarpo- and metatarsophalangeal (fetlock) joints. Twenty stallions were drawn at random from the population of Swed...

For many years, the breeding value estimation for Swedish riding horses has been based on results from Riding Horse Quality Tests (RHQTs) of 4-year-olds only. Traits tested are conformation, gaits and jumping ability. An integrated index including competition results is under development to both get as reliable proofs as possible and increases the...

Genetic correlations between phenotypically similar or related traits tested at young horse performance tests for Danish Warmblood (DWB) and Swedish Warmblood (SWB) horses were calculated using Multi-trait Across Country Evaluation (MACE). Data comprised stallions with an estimated breeding value (EBV) from the national genetic evaluations (NGE) ba...

The main aim of this study was to determine the current strategies employed to manage inherited disorders in European warmblood sport horses. An online survey was sent to 37 breeding organisations in 29 countries, from which 11 countries replied. The breeding associations played major roles in selection, management and recording of inherited disord...

Genetic correlations were computed for show jumping competition traits from national estimated breeding values (EBV) of stallions of five countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland and Sweden. Data involved 24,390 horses, i.e. 8993 stallions with EBV and their ancestors. There were 617 stallions with several EBVs in more than one country. Method...

The objective of this study was threefold: 1) To survey the use and impact of foreign stallions in the Swedish Warmblood (SWB) breed 2) To investigate the impact of including genetic groups in the genetic evaluation of the SWB and 3) To estimate the impact of incomplete pedigree information on the estimated breeding values (EBVs) for stallions. Dat...

Four cattle breeds indigenous to western and south-western Ethiopia--Abigar, Gurage, Horro and Sheko--were included in a study of the perceptions of smallholder cattle keepers regarding cattle management, production levels and constraints for production. A semi-structured questionnaire was used and 60 cattle keepers from each of the four areas were...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic connectedness between seven European populations of show jumping horses. Data on stallions bred for jumping and their pedigree up to three generations were provided by seven countries, including 6317 stallions and 22324 different horses. Four different methods were used to estimate the genetic conne...

___________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Characteristics of a sustainable breeding program are broad breeding objectives, managing inbreeding rates and continuous genetic improvement of the traits included in the breeding goal to keep populations competitive. We have monitored some measures of sustainabil...

SUMMARY For international genetic dairy evaluations different environments have been defined as country borders and the genetic component has been progeny tested bulls. The correlations estimated between the countries are affected by differences in trait definition, differences in genetic evaluation model and genotype-environment interactions. Also...

There are two types of 1-day field tests available for young Swedish Warmblood sport horses; one test for 3-year olds and one more advanced test for 4-year olds. Conformation, gaits and jumping ability are evaluated at both tests. Studies on various genetic parameters were based on about 20 000 tested horses. The data for 4-year olds consisted of 3...

This paper is one in a series of studies treating the prerequisites for international use of nationally estimated breeding values (EBVs) of sport horse stallions. One prerequisite for effective use of national EBVs across countries (populations) is genetic connectedness among concerned populations. Thus, genetic connectedness between five sport hor...

Twelve years of data from progeny‐test results of 1486 Swedish Red and White (SRB) and 756 Swedish Black and White (SLB) AI bulls were analysed to provide estimates of genetic correlations between yield of protein and three health‐ and fertility traits. For both breeds, the correlations were unfavourable (rG= —0.13 to —0.37). The effects of negativ...

The main objective of this study was to investigate possibilities to increase accuracy in the selection and test of Swedish warmblood stallions by combining information from stallion performance tests (SPT) with information from competitions and riding horse quality tests (RHQT). Data on 801 stallions judged at the SPT 1979–2005 were used for the a...

We used a partial-budget analysis to evaluate profitability of different management strategies of three genotypes of sheep in a 2 x 2 x 3 factorial experiment conducted at Debre Berhan research station in the central highlands of Ethiopia. This involved two anthelmintic-treatment levels (treated vs. non-treated), two supplementary nutrition levels...

Improvement programmes for small ruminants in the tropics face several constraints that have hampered the establishment and sustainability of such programmes. One major shortfall has been weak planning, particularly poor involvement of livestock owners and other stakeholders in the design and implementation of the programmes. In sub-Saharan Africa,...

Results from performance tests and competitions of young horses are used by major European warmblood horse breeding associations for genetic evaluations. The aim of this review was to compare genetic parameters for various tests of young horses to assess their efficiency in selection for dressage and show-jumping. Improved understanding of genetic...

This module discusses important factors to consider when designing sustainable genetic improvement programmes, especially under tropical conditions. Previous attempts to launch breeding programmes in developing countries have too often failed for a number of reasons, although there are success stories to learn from as well. Long-term and simple str...

This first module provides some insight into the need for better use of animal genetic resources (AnGR) in the context of projected demand for food in developing countries until 2020. Worldwide, 850 million people do not have enough to eat; a livestock revolution is currently underway to meet the nutritional needs for improvement of the livelihood...

Functional traits have become increasingly important in the dairy cattle industry due to increased costs of production relative to milk prices. This has instigated recording of functional traits to be used for both management and breeding purposes. Although economic values differ between countries, the emphasis for functional relative to production...

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic correlations between calving difficulty score and carcass traits in Charolais and Hereford cattle, treating first and later parity calvings as different traits. Genetic correlations between birth weight and carcass traits were also estimated. Field data on 59,182 Charolais and 27,051 Hereford calv...

The aim of this paper is to review the current breeding objectives of organisations that run a selection programme for warmblood riding horses in the light of an increasing trend in trade of semen across countries. In a questionnaire, 19 horse breeding organisations provided information on breeding objective traits. Variation both in length and amo...

The aim of this study was to estimate direct and maternal genetic parameters for calving difficulty score, stillbirth, and birth weight at first and later parities for Charolais and Hereford cattle in Sweden. Calving traits have long been recorded for pure-bred beef cattle in Sweden, but only birth weight has been used in the selection in order to...

The aim of this study was to estimate direct and maternal genetic parameters for calving difficulty score, stillbirth, and birth weight at first and later parities for Charolais and Hereford cattle in Sweden. Calving traits have long been recorded for purebred beef cattle in Sweden, but only birth weight has been used in the selection in order to a...

To investigate the possibility of using carcass data from commercial slaughterhouses for the genetic evaluation of beef cattle, genetic parameters for carcass traits and their correlations with field-recorded growth traits were estimated. The data comprised information on carcass weight (CWT), carcass fleshiness (FLESH) and carcass fatness grade (F...

Reproduction and health traits are of significant economic importance for dairy production. Most of these traits are expressed in a categorical way and show heritabilities of 5% or less. Nevertheless, their additive genetic variation is considerable. For example, the incidence of clinical mastitis in the first lactation varies among daughter groups...

In Swedish Holstein dairy cattle, genetic effects on stillbirth and calving difficulty were studied in 411,409 first- and 281,193 second-calvers. A linear single-trait sire-maternal grandsire model and a threshold model using a Gibbs sampling technique were used to analyse calving data from 1985 to 1996. In first calving when using the linear model...

The main objective of this study was to estimate genetic correlations between traits of young sport horses (4 years old) evaluated in the Swedish Riding Horse Quality Test (RHQT) and later competition results in dressage and show jumping. The data comprised 3708 Warmblood horses born between 1968 and 1982 that had participated in the RHQT as 4-year...

International genetic evaluations for milk somatic cell and clinical mastitis have been implemented on a routine basis by Interbull. This paper examines possible genetic consequences of such evaluations. Holstein data from 12 countries were used for this purpose. Trait definitions and national genetic evaluation procedures were first summarized and...

Properties of deregression for a low heritability trait (clinical mastitis in Sweden with heritability of 0.02) and effects of using different definitions of genetic groups in within-country deregression compared with the across-country analysis were studied. The deregression procedure was satisfactory, and the effects of different phantom parent g...

Field data comprising 74 581 records on post-weaning gain from the Swedish beef recording scheme were analysed together with station performance test results for 2117 bulls of the breeds Charolais, Hereford and Simmental. Single-trait and multiple-trait best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) animal models were used. The breeds were analysed separat...

Genetic and environmental correlations were estimated both between the ability to show oestrus and milk production, and among different fertility traits (heat-intensity score, number of days between consecutive inseminations, number of inseminations per service period, interval between calving and first or last insemination, and interval between fi...

The relationship between longevity and different traits scored in the Swedish Riding Horse Quality Test (RHQT) was studied to evaluate their use as predictors of survival. Data comprised 1815 Warmblood horses born between 1969 and 1982 that had participated in the RHQT as 4-year-olds. Survival information was obtained via a questionnaire sent to ow...