Comparison of methods for deriving phenotypes from incomplete observation data with an application to age at puberty in dairy cattle.
Melissa A StephenChris R BurkeJennie E PryceNicole M SteelePeter R AmerSusanne MeierClaire V C PhynDorian J GarrickPublished in: Journal of animal science and biotechnology (2023)
Our results indicate that using some methods, phenotypes derived from one observation per offspring for a time-dependent trait such as AGEP4 may provide comparable sire rankings to three observations per offspring. This has implications for the design of large-scale phenotyping initiatives where animal breeders aim to estimate variance parameters and estimated breeding values (EBVs) for phenotypes that are challenging to measure or prohibitively expensive.