Genotype-environment interaction for productive traits of Holstein cows in Brazil described by reaction norms

Brazil is the world's fourth largest milk producer; this activity extends throughout the national territory, with productions of approximate 34 billion liters of milk per year. The objective of this work was to evaluate the genotype-environment interaction (GEI) in purebred Holstein cows for milk (M), protein (P), and fat (F) yields. The statistical models used were the standard animal model (AM), which disregards the GEI, and hierarchical reaction norm models with homoscedastic (HRNMHO) and heteroscedastic (HRNMHE) residual variance, and one (HRNMHO1S and HRNMHE1S) and two (HRNMHO2S and HRNMHE2S) steps. HRNMHO1S presented a better fit of the data for all traits, with higher heritability for the best environments. Most bulls presented robust phenotypes; however, GEI was found with a reclassification of the bulls in the environmental gradient. Although few, and less used, bulls with plastic phenotypes were found for all traits, and the use of them can optimize genetic gains in specific environments.