Feed efficiency traits (FETs) are important economic indicators in poultry production. Because feed intake (FI) is a time-dependent variable, longitudinal models can provide insights into the genetic basis of FET variation over time. It is expected that the application of longitudinal models as part of genome-wide association (GWA) and genomic selection (i.e. genome-wide selection (GS)) studies will lead to an increase in accuracy of selection. Thus, the objectives of this study were to evaluate the accuracy of estimated breeding values (EBVs) based on pedigree as well as high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes, and to conduct a GWA study on longitudinal FI and residual feed intake (RFI) in a total of 312 chickens with phenotype and genotype in the F2 population. The GWA and GS studies reported in this paper were conducted using β-spline random regression models for FI and RFI traits in a chicken F2 population, with FI and BW recorded for each bird weekly between 2 and 10 weeks of age. A single SNP regression approach was used on spline coefficients for weekly FI and RFI traits, with results showing that two significant SNPs for FI occur in the synuclein (SNCAIP) gene. Results also show that these regions are significantly associated with the spline coefficients (q 2) for 5- and 6-week-old birds, while GWA study results showed no SNP association with RFI in F2 chickens. Estimated breeding value predictions obtained using a pedigree-based best linear unbiased prediction (ABLUP) model were then compared with predictions based on genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP). The accuracy was measured as correlation between genomic EBV and EBV with the phenotypic value corrected for fixed effects divided by the square root of heritability. The regression of observed on predicted values was used to estimate bias of methods. Results show that prediction accuracies using GBLUP and ABLUP for the FI measured from 2nd to 10th week were between 0.06 and 0.46 and 0.03 and 0.37, respectively. These results demonstrate that genomic methods are able to increase the accuracy of predicted breeding values at later ages on the basis of both traits, and indicate that use of a longitudinal model can improve selection accuracy for the trajectory of traits in F2 chickens when compared with conventional methods.
Keywords: chicken; feed intake; genome-wide association; genomic selection; residual feed intake.