Beef cattle

Genetic parameters and genomic predictions for methane traits in a multibreed beef cattle population

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Abstract

The beef industry has an impact on global greenhouse gas emissions, particularly through enteric methane production. Improving the sustainability of beef production systems requires both the optimization of production efficiency and the mitigation of enteric methane emissions. Genomic selection offers a promising strategy to address these challenges. The objectives of this study were: (1) to estimate genetic parameters for methane production rate (MTHPROD; g/day) and methane yield (MTHY; g/kg, defined as MTHPROD divided by dry matter intake, DMI) in a multibreed beef cattle population, and (2) to assess the genomic predictive performance for these traits. Pedigree and phenotypic data were collected from young Angus and Stabilizer bulls at the Leachman Cattle facilities. Methane emissions and DMI were measured daily for 1,287 and 955 bulls, respectively, over approximately 70 days between December 2023 and August 2025. Genomic data with approximately 50k SNP were available for all animals. A repeatability animal model was employed to estimate genetic parameters using Bayesian inference for MTHPROD (N = 9,684) and MTHY (N = 7,155), with weekly averaged measurements. The model included contemporary groups, pedigree-retained heterosis, temperature, and age at trial as systematic effects, while additive genetic, permanent environmental, and residual effects were treated as random effects. Predictive performance was evaluated using a 5-fold cross-validation scheme, calculating the correlation between estimated breeding values (EBV) and phenotypes adjusted for non-genetic effects. The average values for MTHPROD, MTHY, and DMI were 233.8 g/d (SD = 39.5 g/d), 20.6 g/kg (SD = 4.4 g/kg), and 11.6 kg/d (SD = 1.9 kg/d), respectively. Heritability estimates (95% highest posterior density interval; 95%HPD) were 0.22 (0.13 - 0.31) for MTHPROD and 0.22 (0.09 - 0.35) for MTHY, with repeatability estimates (95%HPD) of 0.33 (0.30 - 0.35) for MTHPROD and 0.43 (0.40 - 0.47) for MTHY. These findings are consistent with literature reports, where heritability estimates for methane traits in beef and dairy cattle range from 0.13 to 0.44, suggesting that genetic selection could be effective for long-term methane reduction. The correlations between EBV and adjusted phenotypes averaged 0.31 for MTHPROD and 0.41 for MTHY, indicating moderate predictive performance. In summary, our results demonstrate that genetic selection can be an effective tool to reduce methane emissions in a multibreed beef cattle population, thereby contributing to the sustainability of beef production systems.

Keywords: 2026

How to Cite:

Passafaro, T., Bernal Rubio, Y., Sanglard, L., Andersen, K., Short, T., Gonzalez-Peña, D., Gordo, D., Leachman, L., Hays, C. & Di Croce, F., (2026) “Genetic parameters and genomic predictions for methane traits in a multibreed beef cattle population”, World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production Digital Archive 2026(1): 2285856. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/wcgalp.23809

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