Animal welfare

Genetic parameters and genome-wide signals for social network analysis traits from feeder replacement events in beef cattle

---

Abstract

In group-housed beef cattle, social behavior can affect access to feeders, influencing animals' feed intake, efficiency, and welfare. Social network analysis (SNA) provides a way to quantify interactions at the feeder and summarizes these interactions with network metrics. Because each animal receives an individual value, these metrics can be treated as SNA-related traits. A key question is whether the SNA-related traits have underlying genetic variation that can be used for selection. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate heritability and genetic correlations for SNA-related traits from replacement events at the electronic feeder and map genomic regions associated with variation in social behavior in beef cattle. We analyzed social behavior data from 1,352 young Nellore cattle in 32 social groups using electronic feeders during feed efficiency trials (FET), conducted between 2013 and 2024. Directed SNA were inferred within-group from replacement events using different time windows (t). The optimal t was the smallest value at which network structure stabilized in terms of communities, total interactions, and median degree centrality. We computed four individual SNA traits: betweenness centrality, closeness centrality, clustering coefficient, and degree centrality. Single-trait ssGBLUP and bi-trait Bayesian models were used to estimate (co)variance components using mixed linear animal models. The fixed effects (social group and herd) and covariates (start age at FET and mid-trial BW) were included. All animals were genotyped with 50K SNP chips and imputed to HD. We performed weighted ssGWAS; windows explaining >1% of variance were deemed candidates. As a result, SN were dense, varying between 0.74 and 0.77, with 23 to 73 nodes and 382 to 3,990 weighted edges per group. SNA traits showed low to moderate heritability (h² ± SE), with 0.06 ± 0.03 for closeness, 0.13 ± 0.04 for betweenness, and 0.31 ± 0.05 for clustering and degree. Genetic correlations (rg ± SE) among SNA-related traits were high in magnitude: 0.90 ± 0.10 (betweenness-closeness), −0.78 ± 0.10 (betweenness-clustering), −0.62 ± 0.14 (betweenness-degree), −0.79 ± 0.13 (closeness-clustering), −0.60 ± 0.20 (closeness-degree), and 0.69 ± 0.09 (clustering-degree). Phenotypic correlations were generally weak to moderate among traits. Weighted ssGWAS identified multiple windows >1% for each trait. Illustrative candidates included ADCY5 (BTA1), FOXP2/MET (BTA4), PDGFRA (BTA6), CAST/PAM/LNPEP (BTA7), BICD2/NINJ1 (BTA8), MAPK1 (BTA17), LHFPLM (BTA22), and RBFOX1 (BTA25). Several signals overlapped across traits, consistent with shared neuro-metabolic and cell-adhesion pathways influencing social positioning. SNA-derived traits in Nellore were heritable and strongly correlated, suggesting that selection could be based on a single representative trait. GWAS imply neuronal signaling, adhesion, and extracellular matrix pathways as determinants of cattle social positioning. The results provide insight for integrating social behavior into breeding goals in group systems. This research was financially supported by FAPESP (grants #2024/05697-4, #2024/22461-4, #2023/14482-9, #2023/11176-4, #2024/22081-7).

Keywords: 2026

How to Cite:

Alves, J., Borges, G., Carneiro Araujo, L., Mercadante, M., Mota, L., Pinto, K., Rodrigues, G., Soares, T. & Valente, J., (2026) “Genetic parameters and genome-wide signals for social network analysis traits from feeder replacement events in beef cattle”, World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production Digital Archive 2026(1): 2282978. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/wcgalp.23474

Rights: 1