Non-replication of genome-wide-based associations of efficient food conversion in dairy cows

Animal growth relative to food energy input is of key importance to agricultural production. Several recent studies highlighted genetic markers associated with food conversion efficiency in beef cattle, and there is now a requirement to validate these associations in additional populations and to assess their potential utility for selecting animals with enhanced food-use efficiency. The current analysis tested a population of dairy cattle using 138 DNA markers previously associated with food intake and growth in a whole-genome association analysis of beef animals. Although seven markers showed point-wise significance at P < 0.05, none of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms tested were significantly associated with food conversion efficiency after correction for multiple testing. These data do not support the involvement of this subset of previously implicated markers in the food conversion efficiency of the physiologically distinct New Zealand Holstein-Friesian dairy breed.