Genomic testing for tenderness in Canadian beef

Beef tenderness is a complex trait with many contributing factors including a significant genetics component. This genetic component should allow cattle breeders to improve the genetic level of tenderness in their herds as they have other important traits such as growth rate.

Date of Submission:	July 15, 2010
Total Budget:	$1,988,199
Total Amount Requested from Genome Alberta/ALMA (less than $500k):	$495,242
Project Duration:	3 years

Project Leader(s)	Stephen Miller Centre for the Genetic Improvement of Livestock Department of Animal and Poultry Science University of Guelph Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Co-Applicant(s)	Name	Affiliation
	Stephen Moore	University of Alberta
	Graham Plastow	University of Alberta
	Zhiquan Wang	University of Alberta
	Changxi Li	Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
	John Basarab	Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development
	Ira Mandell	University of Guelph
	Jim Squires	University of Guelph
	Jennifer Aalhus	Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
	Heather Bruce	University of Alberta
	Paul Stothard	University of Alberta

Project Summary

Beef quality audits in Canada and the US have repeatedly identified beef tenderness as one of the top quality concerns that erodes consumer confidence in beef products. If beef was more consistently tender, consumer demand for beef would increase. Beef tenderness is a complex trait with many contributing factors including a significant genetics component.
This genetic component should allow cattle breeders to improve the genetic level of tenderness in their herds as they have other important traits such as growth rate. However, genetic selection for beef tenderness remains unexploited due to the fact, that unlike growth rate, tenderness is not easily measured on the live animal. Traditional genetic improvement schemes in beef cattle rely on large numbers of animals measured for the traits of interest. When measures are available on the live animal and at a young age, genetic progress is increased.
Beef tenderness is expensive to measure as the only reliable estimates of tenderness require cooking a cut of beef, which is not practical on a scale large enough for traditional improvement schemes to be employed, this expense combined with the fact that tenderness can only be measured post-slaughter have been the primary impediments to improvement for this very important trait. This project brings together expertise and resources in meat science, genetics and genomics to build a world class predictive genomic tool for beef tenderness. This genetic test, possible with a hair sample at birth, will allow Canadian breeders to put selection pressure on improving the genetic profile for tenderness in their herds.
The technology also creates the opportunity for branded beef products that target beef tenderness directly linked to genetic merit. The developed technology will allow the Canadian beef industry to address the primary beef quality concern through an important contributing factor, genetic improvement.