Implementation of genomic selection in UK dairy goats

Genomic selection in UK dairy goats was introduced in 2014. One of the main challenges was the small size and structure of the reference population (mixture of males and females). The main objective of this study was to set up a breeding programme focused on recording new phenotypes and implementation of genomic technology. The research was based on data provided by two farms in the UK comprised of milk production, conformation (udder, teat, feet and legs), feed efficiency, and health (mastitis) records on 19,790 goats. The pedigree contained 38,273 individuals. In total 13,814 animals were genotyped with Illumina 50K caprine chip. The single-step approach was implemented as the method of choice. The results indicate that this method provides the best accuracy for populations with a small number of genotyped individuals, where the number of males is relatively low, and females are predominant in the reference population.