Feasibility of Using Imaging Carcass Traits in Genetic Evaluation for Australian Wagyu Beef Cattle

Abstract

This study estimated genetic parameters for AusMeat and camera image analysis carcass traits. Most carcass traits were moderately to highly heritable. The genetic correlation between AusMeat marble score and the image analysis marbling percentage traits was close to unity, as was the estimate between the two eye muscle area traits. Accuracies of genomic breeding values from single step genomic BLUP (ssGBLUP) were up to 4% higher than those from pedigree based BLUP (PBLUP) evaluations. The highest increase in EBV accuracies from ssGBLUP over those from PBLUP was for animals with a genotype but no phenotype. The use of image carcass traits for selection is feasible for genetic evaluation.