Inbreeding Depression on Female Fertility and Calving Ease in Spanish Dairy Cattle

Inbreeding depression on female fertility and calving ease in Spanish dairy cattle was studied by the traditional inbreeding coefficient (F) and an alternative measurement indicating the inbreeding rate (ΔF) for each animal. Data included records from 49,497 and 62,134 cows for fertility and calving ease, respectively. Both inbreeding measurements were included separately in the routine genetic evaluation models for number of insemination to conception (sequential threshold animal model) and calving ease (sire-maternal grandsire threshold model). The F was included in the model as a categorical effect, whereas ΔF was included as a linear covariate. Inbred cows showed impaired fertility and tended to have more difficult calvings than low or noninbred cows. Pregnancy rate decreased by 1.68% on average for cows with F from 6.25 to 12.5%. This amount of inbreeding, however, did not seem to increase dystocia incidence. Inbreeding depression was larger for F greater than 12.5%. Cows with F greater than 25% had lower pregnancy rate and higher dystocia rate (−6.37 and 1.67%, respectively) than low or noninbred cows. The ΔF had a significant effect on female fertility. A ΔF = 0.01, corresponding to an inbreeding coefficient of 5.62% for the average equivalent generations in the data used (5.68), lowered pregnancy rate by 1.5%. However, the posterior estimate for the effect of ΔF on calving ease was not significantly different from zero. Although similar patterns were found with both F and ΔF, the latter detected a lowered pregnancy rate at an equivalent F, probably because it may consider the known depth of the pedigree. The inbreeding rate might be an alternative choice to measure inbreeding depression.