Genome-based improvement of bovine milk fat composition

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Western consumers are becoming increasingly discerning and demanding about the food they eat. Current consumer preferences include a focus on the health promoting effects of food and the increasing popularity of 'low-carb diets'. Together, these trends ar e changing the consumption of milk products and creating a demand for raw material with higher milkfat content and a healthy fattyacid composition. Both fat content and milk fat composition are highly heritable traits that can be changed over time using s elective breeding. Unfortunately traditional breeding is a relatively slow strategy with changes only emerging in the long term. The emergence of genomic selection, however, provides new opportunities for faster and more precise genetic selection. This ap plication proposes the use of new technologies that collectively represent a genomic approach to improve both fat content and milk fatty-acid composition. Whole genome sequencing, genomic imputation, high-throughput genotyping, construction of low-density highly-informative genotyping arrays, genomic selection, and functional genomic tools are techniques that can be used to produce rapid genetic improvement, while preserving genetic diversity, maintaining oversight over correlated traits, and help to deve lop a functional understanding of the underlying biology. The project is expected to introduce large improvements in raw material of cow?s milk that are demanded by producers and processors. Further benefits will arise from the discovery of functional (an d patentable) mutations, exploitation of unique properties of Norwegian genetic material, and improved understanding of the biological systems underpinning particular traits.