Genetic parameters for paratuberculosis infection and effect of infection on production traits in Israeli Holsteins

Paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) is an infectious enteric disease in dairy cattle and other species that causes substantial economic loss worldwide. In this study, two recursive Gaussian-threshold models were employed in order to infer the effects of Johne's disease on milk yield, fat yield, and protein yield while simultaneously estimating genetic parameters (i.e. heritability and genetic correlation) in an Israeli Holstein population. Disease diagnosis was based on ELISA serum antibody tests. Data were available for 4694 daughters of 361 sires; 3.5% were positive; and 1.6% were suspect for the disease test. Disease status was coded either as a binary character (negative vs. positive) or as an ordered categorical trait (negative, suspect, and positive) in the two recursive models and as a binary trait in a linear model. Among sires with ≥ 50 daughters, predicted probability of Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infection in future daughters ranged from <1% to 16.5%. Heritability estimates for Johne's disease were near 0.15, confirming a genetic contribution to disease susceptibility. Genetic correlation estimates for Johne's disease with the three yield traits were 0.15-0.22. Residual correlations for Johne's disease with the yield traits were between -0.01 and -0.10. For the linear regression model, yield losses associated with a positive disease diagnosis during 305 days of lactation were 300 kg milk and around 10 kg for fat and protein. Yield loss estimates from the recursive models were 25-50% less than linear model estimates. Recursive modeling has theoretical advantages over linear models for these phenotypes, but the estimated genetic parameters in this study did not differ significantly between the two types of models.