Genome-wide association study for primal cut lean traits in Canadian beef cattle

This study identified genomic variants and underlying candidate genes related to the whole carcass and individual primal cut lean content in Canadian commercial crossbred beef cattle. Genotyping information of 1035 crossbred beef cattle were available alongside estimated and actual carcass lean meat yield and individual primal cut lean content in all carcasses. Significant fixed effects and covariates were identified and included in the animal model. Genome-wide association analysis were implemented using the weighted single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction (WssGBLUP). A number of candidate genes identified linked to lean tissue production were unrelated to estimated lean meat yield and were specific to the actual lean traits. Among these, 41 genes were common for actual lean traits, on specific regions of BTA4, BTA13 and BTA25 indicating potential involvement in lean mass synthesis. Therefore, the results suggested the inclusion of primal cut lean traits as a selection objective in breeding programs with consideration of further functional studies of the identified genes could help in optimizing lean yield for maximal carcass value.