Abstract #365

# 365
A web-based mating program for global optimization on commercial dairy herds.
C. Sun1, S. Westberry*1, D. Kendall1, D. Castellani1, 1STgenetics, Navasota, TX.

Genomic selection has become a standard tool in dairy cattle breeding to help to accelerate genetic gain, and the majority of dairy inseminations are to young genomic bulls. Higher rates of inbreeding under genomic selection means that new methods of control at a population, breeding company, and herd level are becoming increasingly important. Chromosomal Mating (CM) is a web-based mating program that was developed by ST-Genetics to accommodate these challenges. Using linear programming (LP) methods, CM was designed to control inbreeding and lethal haplotypes and maximize predicted producing values (PPV) of future offspring through the optimization of a linear objective function (the PPV of the offspring) subjecting to the above constraints. CM uses the genetic merit of an animal after removing the adjustment of expected future inbreeding from the official PTA. Within the framework of CM, the inbreeding penalty on PPV is based on economical values rather than setting a threshold value that cannot be exceeded. CM has 3 main platforms: genomic mating, pedigree mating, and corrective mating. Genomic relationship files provided by CDCB (includes 5731 bulls and > 1.3 million females) are employed for genomic mating, while females with missing genomic relationships automatically receive pedigree-based mating by tracing back the pedigree as many generations as possible for the calculation of pedigree relationship matrices. For corrective mating, a mobile application was also developed to score type traits of females in the field, and the data are instantly uploaded to database. Our database holds more than 5 million animals’ pedigree and all the bulls’ information; female data can be uploaded through a web interface by the user. The computation is very efficient and the user receives results within a few minutes. LP was much better on simultaneously maximizing total PPV and reducing inbreeding, and results indicated that the average progeny PPV increased 17% and inbreeding decreased 30% for Holstein relative to random mating.

Key Words: mating program, genomic selection, inbreeding