Renata Veroneze

Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) | UFV · Department of Animal Science

With a perspective future ban on surgical castration in Europe, selecting pigs with reduced ability to accumulate boar taint (BT) compounds (androstenone, indole, skatole) in their tissues seems a promising strategy. BT compound concentrations were quantified in the adipose tissue of 1075 boars genotyped at 29,844 SNPs. Traditional and SNP-based br...

This study aimed to propose and compare metrics of accuracy and bias of genomic prediction of breeding values for traits with censored data. Genotypic and censored-phenotypic information were simulated for four traits with QTL heritability and polygenic heritability, respectively: C1: 0.07-0.07, C2: 0.07-0.00, C3: 0.27-0.27, and C4: 0.27-0.00. Geno...

Heat stress negatively affects livestock, with undesirable effects on animals' production and reproduction. Temperature and humidity index (THI) is a climatic variable used worldwide to study the effect of heat stress on farm animals. Temperature and humidity data can be obtained in Brazil through the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET), but...

This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of genomic prediction for productive and reproductive traits in Guzerá cattle using single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction (ssGBLUP). Evaluations included the 305-day cumulative yields (first lactation, in kg) of milk, lactose, protein, fat, and total solids; adjusted body weight (kg) at...

This study is aimed at estimating genetic parameters, effective population size, inbreeding, and inbreeding depression for birth weight, weaning weight, and average pre-weaning daily weight gain (ADG) in Piau pigs. We used information from 3841 Piau pigs, and four linear models were fitted in single-trait analyses, including or excluding maternal g...

We aimed to reduce the dimensionality of quantitative traits in pigs applying factor analysis. Quantitative variables were collected, and the factor analysis extracted five factors with biological meaning related to performance, carcass quality, carcass yield, meat quality, and initial pH. These factors were posteriorly used as dependent variable t...

This study evaluated the effects of dietary macauba pulp on the growth performance, carcass, and pork traits of growing-finishing pigs; and whether differences in residual feed intake breeding values could influence the pigs’ growth responses to macauba pulp inclusion in the diet. A total of 282 (34.8 ± 4.40 kg) pigs (barrows and females), progeny...

Context. Boar taint compounds (androstenone, skatole and indole) can be measured in pig carcasses, after slaughter or, alternatively, in biopsies of subcutaneous adipose tissue from selected living pigs. Measuring these compounds via biopsy enables data collection in selected animals and high standardisation regarding tissue-collection procedures f...

We aimed to estimate genetic parameters for growth, reproductive, and carcass traits in Tabapuã cattle. Phenotypic data were collected between 1990 and 2019 in 1,218 farms, and the pedigree file had 340,868 animals. The traits evaluated were body weight at 120 (W120), 210 (W210), 365 (W365), and 550 (W550) days of age; age at first calving (AFC), s...

Meat traceability and certification increase consumers’ confidence in making purchasing decisions. In Brazil, certified Angus beef follows specific regulation, which requires a minimum of 50% of Angus genome in its breed composition to be commercialized as certified Angus beef. Because the majority of the beef produced in Brazil is Nellore-based, t...

This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of genomic prediction for productive and reproductive traits in Guzerá cattle using the single-step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP). Evaluations included the 305-day cumulative yields (first lactation, in kg) of milk, lactose, protein, fat, and total solids; adjusted body weight (kg) at the ages of 450 days, 3...

The aims of this study were to: (1) estimate genetic correlation for milk production traits (milk, fat and protein yields and fat and protein contents) and fatty acids (FA: C16:0, C18:1 cis -9, LCFA, SFA, and UFA) over days in milk, (2) investigate the performance of genomic predictions using single-step GBLUP (ssGBLUP) based on random regression m...

We aimed to investigate the impacts of ruminal undegradable protein (RUP) enriched diet during late gestation on performance of pregnant beef cows and skeletal muscle growth of the offspring. From 180d of gestation to parturition, a total of 31 Brahman pregnant cows were randomly assigned to one of the experimental treatments: High-RUP diet (H-RUP,...

Context Greater production of oocytes and embryos from Gir donors contributes to greater fertility and genetic progress. Aims This study aimed to obtain genetic parameters for oocyte and embryo production in the Gir breed. Methods Repeatability and random regression models were applied to data consisting of 17 526 Ovum Pick Up observations from 164...

This study aimed to estimate genetic parameters, effective population size, inbreeding, and inbreeding depression for birth weight, weaning weight, and average pre-weaning daily weight gain (ADG) in Piau breed pigs. We used information from 3841 Piau pigs, and four linear models were fitted in single trait analyzes including or excluding maternal g...

We aimed to investigate the effects of the maternal plane of nutrition during gestation on the proteome profile of the skeletal muscle of the newborn. Pregnant goats were assigned to the following experimental treatments: restriction maintenance (RM) where pregnant dams were fed at 50% of their maintenance requirements from 8–84 days of gestation,...

We investigated the use of different Legendre polynomial orders to estimate genetic parameters for milk production and fatty acid (FA) traits in the first lactation Walloon Holstein cows. The data set comprised 302,684 test‐day records of milk yield, fat and protein contents, and FAs generated by mid‐infrared (MIR) spectroscopy, C16:0 (palmitic aci...

The weighted single-step genome-wide association study (WssGWAS) and post-GWAS analysis may be a useful tool to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) and candidate genes linked to economically important phenotypes, such as boar taint in pigs. The boar taint is an unpleasant taste and smell observable at uncastrated pork cooking. Therefore, we aime...

Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for 305-day cumulative milk yield and components, growth, and reproductive traits in Guzerá cattle. Methods: The evaluated traits were 305-day first-lactation cumulative yields (kg) of milk (MY305), fat (FY305), protein (PY305), lactose (LY305), and total solids (SY305); age at fir...

Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for 305-day cumulative milk yield and components, growth, and reproductive traits in Guzerá cattle. Methods: The evaluated traits were 305-day first-lactation cumulative yields (kg) of milk (MY305), fat (FY305), protein (PY305), lactose (LY305), and total solids (SY305); age at fir...

The study aimed at evaluating the effects of high ambient temperature (HT: 30 °C) on the thermoregulatory responses and performance of commercial and Piau crossbred (Brazilian Piau breed sires × commercial genotype dams) growing pigs. Commercial and Piau crossbred pigs were reared under thermoneutral (TN: 22 °C) or HT conditions during a 14-day exp...

In causal relationship studies, the latent variables may summarize the phenotypes in theoretical traits according to their phenotypic correlations, improving the understanding of causal relationships between broilers phenotypes. In this study, we aimed to investigate potential causal relationships among latent variables in broilers using a structur...

Technological devices are increasingly present in livestock activities, such as identifying the reproductive status of cows. For this, predictive models must be accurate and usable in the productive context. The aims of this study were to evaluate estrus-associated changes in reticulo-rumen temperature (RRT) and activity (ACT) in Dairy Gyr heifers...

Resumo: Neste estudo, objetivou-se avaliar como diferentes herdabilidades e arquiteturas genéticas das características afetam a acurácia de predição genômica dos animais cruzados a partir de informações das linhas puras. Foram simulados quinze diferentes cenários considerando diferentes herdabilidades total (poligênica + QTL): 0,50, 0,30 e 0,10; e...

The level of genetic diversity in a population is inversely proportional to the linkage disequilibrium (LD) between individual single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and quantitative trait loci (QTL), leading to lower predictive ability of genomic breeding values (GEBV) in high genetically diverse populations. Haplotype-based predictions could outpe...

Vitamin B and trace minerals are crucial molecular signals involved in many biological pathways; however, their bioavailability is compromised in high-producing ruminant animals. So far, studies have mainly focused on the effects of these micronutrients on animal performance, but their use in a rumen-protected form and their impact on liver metabol...

The study of how different breeds adapt to heat stress and the further understanding of mechanisms underlying pigs thermotolerance is of utmost importance to attenuate the negative effects of heat stress on pigs welfare, physiology, and performance. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the effects of ambient temperature on performance and ther...

Objetivamos estimar parâmetros genéticos para os parâmetros da curva de crescimento não-linear de Gompertz com base no método em duas etapas e em dados simulados de uma população de suínos. Dados de valores genéticos reais, dos parâmetros da curva de crescimento (a, b e k) e dos pesos corporais aos 1, 90, 210, 360 e 540 dias de idade foram simulado...

1. Uniformity in animal products is an important aspect of the production system. Several studies have reported estimates of genetics on residual variance in different species, indicating that it could be exploited to improve uniformity by selection. Nevertheless, there are no reports about the possibilities of such a selection strategy in meat qua...

Reproductive efficiency is major determinant of the dairy herd profitability. Thus, reproductive traits have been widely used as selection objectives in the current dairy cattle breeding programs. We aimed to evaluate strategies to model days open (DO), calving interval (CI), and daughter pregnancy rate (DPR) in Brazilian Holstein cattle. These rep...

Positive interactions with humans can improve cow behavior and facilitate farm management, especially in dairy production systems in which milking occurs daily. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of positive tactile stimulation on behavior, and its effect on the milking routine, milk ejection, and milk yield of Gyr cows. Experime...

Biological information regarding markers and gene association may be used to attribute different weights for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in genome‐wide selection. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the predictive ability and the bias of genomic prediction using models that allow SNP weighting in the genomic relationship matrix (G) building, w...

The progenies of international bulls in diverse climatic conditions and management levels may lead to different expressions of their genetic potential resulting in a re-ranking of these bulls. Therefore, evaluate the presence of genotype by environment interaction (G × E) within and across countries is important to guide the decision-making on alte...

Nucleotides are important to cell growth and division and are crucial to the rapid proliferation of such cells as the intestinal mucosa and immune cells. Accordingly, the nucleotide requirements of animals are high during periods of rapid growth and periods of stress like post-weaning period. Thus, nucleotide supplementation may be a possible alter...

The profitability of dairy activity is influenced by the genetic selection of economically important traits. In this context, the correct estimation of genetic parameters and the knowledge regarding candidate genes involved in the expression of genetically associated traits may help develop appropriate breeding strategies for the Guzerá breed. In t...

We investigated the applicability of ssGBLUP methodology under the autoregressive model (H‐AR) for genomic evaluation of longitudinal reproductive traits in Portuguese Holstein cattle. The genotype data of 1,230 bulls and 1,645 cows were considered in our study. The reproductive traits evaluated were interval from calving to first service (ICF), ca...

Reproductive performance is one of the most important factors for the productive efficiency in beef cattle production. Biometric testicular and physical and morphological traits of the ejaculate are used to evaluate the reproductive performance of bulls. The phenotypic data of semen physical and morphological traits are expressed in percentage or n...

Atendendo uma demanda global, os sistemas produtivos vêm cada vez mais sofrendo a automatização na cadeia produtiva. Dentre as tecnologias disponíveis atualmente a ‘Pecuária de Precisão’ vem ganhando espaço nas fazendas. O termo ‘Pecuária de Precisão’ se refere a várias tecnologias que possibilitam a coleta automatizada de dados buscando facilitar...

Our aim was to evaluate the application of infrared thermography (IRT) to detect body surface temperature variation of body regions during the proestrus and estrus phases of the reproductive cycle of Gyr heifers and investigate environmental factors that could affect these measurements. Fifty-seven heifers were submitted to an ovulation synchroniza...

This study focused on the identification of QTL regions, candidate genes, and network related genes based on the first 3 lactations (LAC3) of milk, fat, and protein yields, and somatic cell score (SCS) in Portuguese Holstein cattle. Additionally, the results were compared with those from only first lactation (LAC1) data. The analyses were performed...

The objective with the present study was to evaluate the effect of guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) on the growth performance of nursery piglets as well as a possible molecular mechanism of action on lean mass gain. Seventy-two pigs, weaned at 21 d, weighing 6.80 ± 1.2 kg were distributed in a completely randomized design into one of three dietary treatm...

As crossbreeding is extensively used in some livestock species, we aimed to evaluate the performance of single-step GBLUP (ssGBLUP) and weighted ssGBLUP (WssGBLUP) methods to predict Genomic Estimated Breeding Values (GEBVs) of crossbred animals. Different training population scenarios were evaluated: (SC1) ssGBLUP based on a single-trait model con...

Scrotal circumference of bulls is correlated with pubertal age of female offspring. Hormonal control of reproductive function is similar in males and females, which may result in genetic correlation among different reproductive traits measured in the two sexes. The estimation of heritability and genetic correlations allows for the computation of di...

The cow’s behaviour and temperament influence handling and productivity. Training including tactile stimuli can improve zebu cow behaviour. The aim of the study was to utilize tactile stimulation training in Gir dairy cows during 14 days and measure cow behaviour. A total of 27 cows were brushed in a squeeze chute. Behavioural parameters, respirato...

We aimed to evaluate multiple-trait Bayesian models for handling censored records in genetic evaluations of age at first calving (AFC) and stayability (STAY) in Nellore cattle. Phenotypic and pedigree datasets were provided by Brazilian Association of Zebu Breeders. Four models were evaluated: linear-threshold model (LTM), penalty-threshold model (...

Autoregressive (AR) and random regression (RR) models were fitted to test‐day records from the first three lactations of Brazilian Holstein cattle with the objective of comparing their efficiency for national genetic evaluations. The data comprised 4,142,740 records of milk yield (MY) and somatic cell score (SCS) from 274,335 cows belonging to 2,32...

• The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between several carcass, performance and meat quality traits in broilers through factor analysis and use the latent variables (i.e. factors) as pseudo-phenotypes in genetic evaluations. • Factors were extracted using the principal components method and varimax rotation algorithm. Genetic p...

Nellore is the main cattle breed used in Brazil, being the largest commercial herd in the world. Beyond the importance of male reproductive efficiency for farm profit, the use of reproductive techniques, mainly artificial insemination, turns the evaluation of male reproductive traits even more important. Estimation of genetic parameters increases t...

Although several studies have investigated the factors affecting imputation accuracy, most of these studies involved a large number of genotyped animals. Thus, results from these studies cannot be directly applied to small populations, since the population structure affects imputation accuracy. In addition, factors affecting imputation accuracy may...

l-arginine supplementation of sows has led to improvement of reproductive performance, but the mechanisms responsible for the positive effects of arginine during gestation on conceptuses survival and development are still poorly understood. Thus, we aimed to evaluate effects of 1.0% l-arginine supplementation (ARG) on phenotypic traits of commercia...

Objetivou-se avaliar metodologias para a predição genômica de animais cruzados por meio de dados simulados. Foram simuladas populações Bos indicus (L1), Bos taurus (L2) e animais provenientes do cruzamento dessas duas populações (F1). A característica simulada foi o consumo alimentar residual (herdabilidade = 0,33 e variância fenotípica = 12,5). Qu...

Resumo: A caracterização de raças naturalizadas é importante para que se possa traçar estratégias de conservação eficientes. Objetivou-se estimar parâmetros genéticos para peso ao nascimento e peso ao desmame para suínos da raça Piau. Foram utilizadas 3813 pesagens de leitões provenientes do programa de conservação de suínos da raça Piau da Unidade...

We aimed to characterize the expression of angiogenesis-related genes in corpus luteum (CL) and cumulus cells (CC) during estrous cycle in gilts of different genetic groups, as well as to study the relation between gene expression and phenotypic data. Forty five gilts were used as follows: L1, Commercial Line 1 (Large White x Landrace x Duroc) (n =...

We evaluated the inclusion of information on genetic relationship into the analysis of crude protein requirement in diets for pigs of Brazilian Piau breed, using Bayesian inference. The animals were assigned to treatments in a completely randomized design in factorial scheme 4 × 2 (crude protein levels × sex) with 12 repetitions per treatment. The...

We compared Hurdle Poisson (Hupoisson), Zero Inflated Poisson (Zipoisson), Poisson and Gaussian Bayesian mixed models for genetic evaluation of litter traits in pigs (number of piglets born alive – NBA; number of piglets weaned – NW; and mortality during the suckling period – MORT). The models’ goodness-of-fit was based on Deviance Information Crit...

Genome‐wide association studies (GWASes) have been performed to search for genomic regions associated with residual feed intake (RFI); however inconsistent results have been obtained. A meta‐analysis may improve these results by decreasing the false‐positive rate. Additionally, pathway analysis is a powerful tool that complements GWASes, as it enab...

We compared different Bayesian models to handle censored data for genetic parameters estimation of age at first calving (AFC) in Brazilian Brahman cattle. Data from females with AFC above 1825 days of age were assumed to have failed to calve and were considered as censored records. Data including information of 53,703 cows were analyzed through the...

A predição genômica é fundamentada na caracterização de fragmentos do genoma na população de treinamento para predizer o mérito genético em uma população alvo. Assumindo o interesse comercial de animais cruzados (F1), como por exemplo em bovinos, o Brangus, são necessários estudos para a estruturação dos processos de predição genômicas. A utilizaçã...

Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus is the main cattle ectoparasite in tropical areas. Gir × Holstein crossbred cows are well adapted to different production systems in Brazil. In this context, we performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) and post-GWAS analyses for R. microplus resistance in an experimental Gir × Holstein F2 population. Single...

Reticulo-rumen sensor data were used for estrus prediction in Gir heifers. Temperature-sensing reticular boluses were orally administered to 60 heifers, and the ruminal temperature (RRT) and animal activity were recorded every 10 minutes. The cows were synchronized using a hormonal protocol. Logistic regression with binary distribution was employed...

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a influência do estro na largura, rima e comprimento vulvar, utilizando registros morfométricos como indicador de estro em novilhas da raça Gir Leiteiro. Foram utilizadas 55 fêmeas nulíparas, com idade entre 35 e 57 meses, submetidas a protocolo de sincronização de estro e inseminação artificial. As med...

Comprehending mechanisms controlling corpus luteum (CL) angiogenesis and apoptosis in pregnant sows is essential to understand the physiological role of these processes in CL function, progesterone production and consequently in conceptus development and prenatal mortality. CL from 54 sows from two genetic groups, a commercial line (COM) and the lo...

Temperature sensors were evaluated as indicators of estrus in estrus synchronized dairy Gir heifers, one heifer was exposed to rain (wet heifer) and another was kept dry (dry heifer). For two days and every 12 hours the heifers were monitored for rectal and vaginal temperature (digital thermometer), radiant heat of the eye, vulva and muzzle (thermo...

Meta-analysis based on a random-effects model is used to summarise and overcome the variability between divergent parameter estimates. We proposed a meta-analysis of published heritability and genetic-correlation estimates for reproduction, growth and carcass traits in purebred Nellore cattle. In total, 197 heritability and 107 genetic-correlation...

A large number of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for meat quality and carcass traits has been reported in pigs over the past 20 years. However, few QTL have been validated and the biological meaning of the genes associated to these QTL has been underexploited. In this context, a meta-analysis was performed to compare the significant markers with met...

In the current study we have performed two experiments to evaluate the effects of adipogenic induction media on dedifferentiated fat (DFAT) cells redifferentiation into mature adipocytes. In experiment 1, we aimed to evaluate whether it is necessary to use insulin in the induction media to allow DFAT cells differentiation into mature adipocytes by...

A large number of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for meat quality and carcass traits has been reported in pigs over the last twenty years. However, few QTLs have been validated and the biological meaning of the genes associated to these QTLs has been underexploited. In this context, a meta-analysis was performed to compare the significant markers w...

We studied the effect of including GWAS results on the accuracy of single- and multipopulation genomic predictions. Phenotypes (backfat thickness) and genotypes of animals from two sire lines (SL1, n = 1146 and SL3, n = 1264) were used in the analyses. First, GWAS were conducted for each line and for a combined data set (both lines together) to est...

Pig breeding companies keep relatively small populations of pure sire and dam lines that are selected to improve the performance of crossbred animals. This design of the pig breeding industry presents challenges to the implementation of genomic selection, which requires large data sets to obtain highly accurate genomic breeding values. The objectiv...