Small reference populations limit prediction accuracy and genetic progress in smaller breeds. To address this, the World Ayrshire Federation launched an international collaboration via the Interbull Centre (IBC) to improve genomic evaluations for their populations worldwide, ensuring breed sustainability by overcoming small national reference sizes that undermine evaluation reliability.
In the first stage of the project, IBC is working with Ayrshire data. This project adapts Interbull’s Multiple Across-Country Evaluation (MACE) pipeline to incorporate cow estimated breeding values (EBVs) with bull data while utilising the Interbull Data Exchange Area (IDEA) and the Genotype Data Exchange (GenoEx-GDE) module of the International Genotype Exchange (GenoEx) platforms for data handling.
Incorporating cow data aims to expand reference populations, enhance genotyping benefits, and increase the reliability of national and international evaluations over time. This effort intends to accelerate reference population growth and prediction accuracy for Ayrshire sustainability.