Genomic selection in practice in French Lacaune dairy sheep
Résumé
The breeding organizations of the Lacaune dairy sheep introduced genomic selection in 2015. Results from the first crop of daughters from genomically selected rams confirm its efficiency: after a genomic selection proportion of 1/3 at 3 month-old, less than 20% of AI rams born in 2015 have been culled at 2.5 year-old in 2017, versus 50% previously in classical selection, according to the total merit index threshold used to select the progeny-tested rams. This paper also highlights practical considerations that the breeding societies had to handle regarding genomic selection