Genomic predictions of mastitis resistance in dairy goats using computational genomics

This project addresses the key challenges facing dairy goat milk production by using new genetic and genomic technologies to improve the quality of milk production and disease management. The main challenge is to breed healthy goats with resistance to bacterial infections leading to mastitis, and to identify sires with daughters that have lower susceptibility to mastitis and generate genomic predictions of merit for this trait. The wider goat industry in the UK and abroad will access genomic predictions of enhanced mastitis resistance via new molecular technology from the creatipon of a low density (LD), lower cost customised single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array for UK goats. This allows for the use of more cost-effective molecular technology to predict ('impute') the information that was previously generated by the more expensive, more comprehensive SNP array and enabling more animals to be genotyped. The project will ensure sustainable breeding objectives for dairy goats in the long-term, by including routine collection of mastitis records as indicators of health and longevity, thereby helping to translate previous TSB-funded research into practice.