Sheep Industry News August 2022

YOUNG RESEARCHERS Continued from Page 18

temperature on wool fi er evaluation, a longitudinal characteriza tion of the wool microbiome and its relation to discoloration, and the detection of pregnancy-related hormones in wool as a pos sible non-invasive pregnancy test. Th ere’s also some other work developing that might look at various supplementation impacts on production, incorporating precision technology into sheep man agement and measuring climatic impacts of sheep production.

Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service units on a USDA-National Institute of Food Agriculture funded project to generate the resources and lay the foundation for incorporating genomic data into national genetic evaluation procedures, with a focus on climatic resilience and robustness traits. Th is project fo cuses on four main sheep breeds (Katahdin, Rambouillet, S uff olk, and Polypay), but the methods developed will be applicable to all American sheep stakeholders. In addition, we recently completed a research project evaluating genomic prediction methods for growth, wool and reproduction traits in Rambouillet sheep, in which very promising results were obtained. We are also evaluating statistical methods for identifying footprints of selection in the genome of American sheep popula tions. I am very excited and grateful to have the opportunity to continue developing research that meets the needs of the American sheep industry for many years to come. CHRIS: Th ere are a couple of new projects we have started at Montana State focused across several diff erent fi lds in sheep production from genetics, reproduction and wool quality. Th fi rst genetics focused project is investigating feed effici cy in range breeds of sheep – Targhee and Rambouillet – and how it relates to the growth Estimated Breeding Values from NSIP. We also have some small projects investigating reproduction on both the ram and ewe side that are in development. Finally, there are a number of projects focused on wool, taking advantage of the fact the Montana Wool Lab is located on campus. With the wool lab, we are investigating eff ects of humidity and

SG USA: What are the biggest genetic challenges you see our indus try facing in the next 10 years?

LUIZ: Th American sheep industry is making progress on the use of genomics and phenotyping technologies, but many other competitor countries are still ahead of us. Th erefore, early adoption of technologies and breeding methods and the refi ement of our sheep breeding programs to include key traits, such as meat-eating quality, feed effici cy, disease resistance and climatic adaptation will be paramount for maintaining competitive in the international lamb market. In my opinion, the main challenge facing our industry in the next 10 years will be the ability to develop well-structured refer ence populations for implementing genomic selection for a wide range of novel traits that are important to sheep farmers, proces sors and consumers. To meet this goal, all American sheep indus try stakeholders need to work together toward implementing the tools developed by researchers and committing to the collection of accurate phenotypic, genomic and pedigree data. Another important point to keep in mind is the need for as sessing the levels of genetic diversity in our sheep populations and design mating plans that will minimize inbreeding. Otherwise, this could become another challenge in the next 10 years, especially in the smaller-sized breeds. CHRIS: I think one of the biggest challenges on the genetics front will be quantifying traits that do not necessarily translate to direct economic gains. Some of these traits might include resiliency, im munity and other welfare traits that might be diffic ult to quantify, too costly to measure at the moment or do not provide a direct economic ben efi t yet. As societal pressures increase, I believe some current practices will eventually be phased out or reduced in their capacity. One example is the upcoming rule change on the use of antibiotics next year. We will need to have healthier and more resilient sheep, with out a loss in production, while we reduce the utilization of certain tools in our current toolkit. Another challenge – or opportunity – for molecular-based scientists is the cost of genomic testing. While the cost for genetic testing has continually decreased and is more reasonable now, if we can continue to reduce input costs to make the use of genetics and genomics more profi able, it should increase the uptake within the industry.

Dr. Chris Posbergh

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