Validation of reaction norm breeding values for robustness in Australian sheep

There can be variation between animals in how stable their genetic merit is across different environments due to genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions. This variation could be used in breeding programs to select robust genotypes that combine high overall performance with stable genetic ranking across environments. There have been few attempts to validate breeding values for robustness in livestock, although this is a necessary step towards their implementation in selection decisions. The objective of this study was to validate breeding values for the robustness of body weight across different growth environments that were estimated using reaction norm models in sheep data.

Using threefold cross-validation for the progeny of 337 sires, the average correlation between single-step breeding values for the reaction norm slope and the realised robustness of progeny across different growth environments was 0.21. The correlation between breeding values for the reaction slope estimated independently in two different datasets linked by common sires was close to the expected correlation based on theory.

Slope estimated breeding values (EBV) obtained using reaction norm models were predictive of the phenotypic robustness of progeny across different environments and were consistent for sires with progeny in two different datasets. Selection based on reaction norm EBV could be used to increase the robustness of a population to environmental variation.