Genetic correlations between endo-parasite phenotypes and economically important traits in dairy and beef cattle

Parasitic diseases have economic consequences in cattle production systems. Although breeding for parasite resistance can complement current control practices to reduce the prevalence globally, there is little knowledge of the implications of such a strategy on other performance traits. Records on individual animal antibody responses to Fasciola hepatica, Ostertagia ostertagi, and Neospora caninum were available from cows in 68 dairy herds (study herds); national abattoir data on F. hepatica–damaged livers were also available from dairy and beef cattle. After data edits, 9,271 dairy cows remained in the study herd dataset, whereas 19,542 dairy cows and 68,048 young dairy and beef animals had a record for the presence or absence of F. hepatica–damaged liver in the national dataset. Milk, reproductive, and carcass phenotypes were also available for a proportion of these animals as well as their contemporaries. Linear mixed models were used to estimate variance components of antibody responses to the three parasites; covariance components were estimated between the parasite phenotypes and economically important traits. Heritability of antibody responses to the different parasites, when treated as a continuous trait, ranged from 0.07 (O. ostertagi) to 0.13 (F. hepatica), whereas the coefficient of genetic variation ranged from 4% (O. ostertagi) to 20% (F. hepatica). The antibody response to N. caninum was genetically correlated with the antibody response to both F. hepatica (−0.29) and O. ostertagi (−0.67); a moderately positive genetic correlation existed between the antibody response to F. hepatica and O. ostertagi (0.66). Genetic correlations between the parasite phenotypes and the milk production traits were all close to zero (−0.14 to 0.10), as were the genetic correlations between F. hepatica–damaged livers and the carcass traits of carcass weight, conformation, and fat score evaluated in cows and young animals (0.00 to 0.16). The genetic correlation between F. hepatica–damaged livers in cows and milk somatic cell score was 0.32 (SE = 0.20). Antibody responses to F. hepatica and O. ostertagi had favorable genetic correlations with fertility traits, but conversely, antibody response to N. caninum and F. hepatica–damaged livers were unfavorably genetically correlated with fertility. This study provides the necessary information to undertake national multitrait genetic evaluations for parasite phenotypes.