“PROTEJE”: report on the project

1. “PROTEJE”: report on the project Fabiola Canavesi ANAFI, Italy Zadar, June 2010

2. Members of the group • Countries with data: • France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands • Research units: • ANAFI, CR-DELTA, Foulum Research Centre, Gembloux University, INRA, Institut de l’élevage, VIT, Interbull Centre Zadar, June 2010

3. Initial objectives of the group • To investigate the possibility of having one list of bulls’ breeding values only for Europe; • To identify a tool for an international genetic evaluation that preserves the know-how at the national level; • To propose alternatives to the current procedures used to estimate genetic correlations between countries compatible with the international evaluation of a large number of countries. Zadar, June 2010

4. A new way of working • Invest in research: • At each institution there are people working actively in the project • Share results: • On average 2 meetings/year since 2002 • All people involved in the research work do participate • Define new and practical objectives Zadar, June 2010

5. The work in 2009 • Test day model • National TMI changes • Nordic joint evaluation on longevity • Genomic • Updated on countries situation • Bias in International evaluations • European bull list Zadar, June 2010

6. An European bull list • What for? • A list of bulls evaluated on an “European scale” to be used on the International market that represent the European selection • A methodology to offer single countries not participating to Interbull evaluation the possibility to build a list based on their own TMI definition Zadar, June 2010

7. An European bull list • Two main areas of work • Single trait lists • Phantom group methodology • The base to compute combined indexes • An European TMI • Analysis of common variation among existing national TMIs Zadar, June 2010

8. Where we are in the work • Single lists (VIT, Germany) • Some technical issues solved; • Challenges on functional/fertility traits • All procedures developed and applied to Interbull results; • Preliminary results to be presented at the next EHRC board meeting. Zadar, June 2010

9. Where we are in the work • European TMI development (Gembloux University): • methodology has been tested; • it works on a first trial with 5 countries; • it needs to be developed further to include other countries; • preliminary results will be presented at next EHRC board meeting. Zadar, June 2010

10. A common bull list • Use of international evaluation • Accurate and unbiased method for combining across countries EBVs • Developed by VIT group and presented at Interbull meeting in 2008 and at the Secretaries meeting in Cyprus Zadar, June 2010

11. Advantages of the methodology (1) • it takes into account existing genetic correlations across countries; • it avoids double counting for bulls that do have daughters in multiple countries; • it gives equal rights/chances for all bulls, leading to a fair across country comparison of selection strategies; Zadar, June 2010

12. Advantages of the methodology (2) • it is applicable to all traits that do have an official Interbull evaluation; • it can provide valuable information to countries that are not yet participating to Interbull, while preserving the existing benefit of national lists for countries participating to Interbull evaluations. Zadar, June 2010

13. What it can be used for • Providing to the international market bull list that can compete with international bull lists • Providing countries not participating to Interbull with a list that “meets” their selection needs Zadar, June 2010

14. At the next Proteje meeting • Issues to be discussed at the next group meeting: • possible uses of the list • genomics • communication • promotion Zadar, June 2010

15. A question to all • Are members going to consider using this European ranking tool? Zadar, June 2010

16. Thank you for the attention! Zadar, June 2010