Full-sib group records as a practical alternative to individual records in insect breeding

Laura Skrubbeltrang Hansen*, Aniek C Bouwman, Hanne Marie Nielsen, Goutam Sahana, E D Ellen

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: KonferencebidragKonferenceabstrakt til konferenceForskningpeer review

Abstract

Selective breeding in insects has predominantly been utilising information on phenotypic variation which does not require records on relatedness. Selection based on estimated breeding values would require: (1) tracking a pedigree over multiple generations; and (2) tracking individuals over their development to link phenotypic records for multiple traits. Most farmed insect species experience several life stages of occasionally distinct morphology, and the entire exoskeleton including any exterior identifier is shed regularly. These aspects of the insect metabolism make tracking of individuals essentially impossible unless they are reared individually. However, rearing insect species such as black soldier fly or housefly in isolation is impractical for large-scale production, and suboptimal for larval development. When tracking and isolation are impossible, we cannot correlate individual phenotypic records collected throughout development, or relate early life phenotypic records to mature selection candidates. To overcome these limitations, an approach would be to use group records. For flies, the genetic relationship of individuals grouped together cannot be tracked unless they are all full-siblings. This has consequences for the accuracy of breeding values estimated using family-level information, since phenotypic covariance will be caused by both genetic similarity and common environmental effects, and this environment could vary dramatically between families. In this study, we use stochastic simulation to investigate the potential for genetic improvement in insects using family records for breeding value estimation in a two-trait breeding scheme. We simulate scenarios with varying ratio of genetic to common environmental variance, and consider the effect of using full-sib subgroups to estimate and correct for the non-genetic sources of variance. The group-based breeding scheme is not limited to applications in multi-trait systems, but also applicable when breeding for traits that cannot be measured at the individual level.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
Publikationsdato2023
StatusUdgivet - 2023
Begivenhed
74th Annual Meeting of European Federation of Animal Science
- Lyon, Frankrig
Varighed: 26 aug. 20231 sep. 2023
Konferencens nummer: 74

Konference

Konference
74th Annual Meeting of European Federation of Animal Science
Nummer74
Land/OmrådeFrankrig
ByLyon
Periode26/08/202301/09/2023

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