A large-scale multitrait meta-analysis of 11 health and 22 conformation traits in German Holstein cows

In dairy cattle farming, many traits are included in the breeding goal simultaneously to maximize economic value. The phenomenon of genetic correlations can both enhance and hinder the response to selection and has to be taken into account in multitrait selection schemes. To investigate the genetic architecture of traits included in the balanced breeding goal in Germany, multitrait meta-analyses of 11 health and 22 conformation traits in 100,809 to 180,217 German Holstein cows were conducted, followed by the estimation of global genetic correlations between each pair of traits. Multitrait meta-analyses identified a total of 58,454 genome-wide significant variants across 11 health and 22 conformation traits. The variants in high linkage disequilibrium were pruned and functionally annotated using external functional and evolutionary information, specifically Functional-And-Evolutionary Trait Heritability scores, thereby prioritizing the variants with the highest potential to affect the traits. Variants were found in both known and novel regions for the traits studied, leading to a list of novel, shared candidate markers that can be incorporated into multitrait genomic predictions to increase their reliability.