Why is this research important to Alberta?

• Alberta’s beef industry operates across highly variable climatic, forage, and management conditions that directly influence animal performance, health, and productivity.
• Current genomic evaluations assume environmental uniformity, resulting in inconsistent animal performance across production systems and reduced confidence in selection tools.
• This creates production risk and limits producers’ ability to match genetics to their specific environments.
• This project addresses this gap by developing environment- and management-informed precision genomic predictions (eGEPDs) for Canadian Angus cattle.
• By integrating genomic, phenotypic, environmental, and producer-reported management data, the project will deliver practical tools to improve selection accuracy, reduce risk, and enhance productivity and resilience.

What is the goal of this work? How will genomics be used?

• Objectives are to quantify genotype × environment × management (G×E×M) interactions in Canadian beef cattle and develop precision genomic prediction tools that improve the accuracy of genetic selection across diverse production systems.
• The project combines producer-recorded phenotypes and DNA information with:
  • environmental data (climate, soils, and forage)
  • management practices
  • emerging data sources
• This information will be used to better predict how animals will perform under specific conditions.
• Artificial intelligence and advanced analytics will be used to integrate these large, complex datasets, identify key interactions, and improve decision-making for producers.
• The project will also investigate how environmental factors influence cattle health, fertility, and resilience.

Led by the Canadian Angus Association, the project brings together the University of Calgary, Olds College, AbacusBio, and industry partners to develop next-generation genomic tools that enable more precise, sustainable, and profitable beef production.

What are the expected benefits, and how will the research findings be shared?

• The project will improve the accuracy of genomic predictions for 22 economically important traits, particularly difficult-to-measure traits such as:
  • health
  • fertility
  • feed efficiency
  • carcass quality
• The resulting tools will benefit more than 2,700 Canadian Angus seedstock breeders and approximately 10,000 commercial beef producers by enabling genetics to be matched to specific production environments and management systems, improving productivity, profitability, and sustainability.
• Findings will be shared through peer-reviewed publications, producer workshops, webinars, conferences, extension resources and integrated genomic decision-support tools to support rapid industry adoption.

Related Resources

Findings or more information can be accessed through:

• Research publication: Genotype-by-environment interactions in beef and dairy cattle populations: A review of methodologies and perspectives on research and applications
• Research publication: Genome-wide association analyses identify genotype-by-environment interactions of growth traits in Simmental cattle