Genotype x Environment Interactions in Dual Purpose Cattle in Harsh Environments

Summary

In Switzerland cattle are kept in a range of different production systems and environments: From lowland to mountain area, from intensive to extensive feeding systems and from conventional to organic production systems. Some of these environments can be classified as harsh environments. It is assumed that some genotypes affect traits differently in diverging environments. If that would be the case, genotype x environment (GxE) interactions would cause re-rankings of the cattle’s corresponding breeding values in the breeding value list.