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Glossary
ABRI – Dr Arthur Rickards established the Agricultural Business Research Institute (ABRI) from the
University of New England (UNE) gardener’s cottage in 1968 after he had observed that the farming
community was keen to adopt the new agricultural technologies being developed at UNE, but an
infrastructure gap prevented easy knowledge transfer between research and application.
AGBU – the Animal Genetics Breeding Unit was established at UNE to support ABRI with research
and development, and has become a world leader in livestock genetics in its own right, while
continuing to strengthen ABRI’s capability.
BreedPlan was introduced in 1985 for within-herd evaluation and within 12 months the group
BreedPlan module was added to accommodate across-herd evaluation.
TransTasman BreedPlan Analysis, combining data from Australian and New Zealand breed societies
in a single analysis.
Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) is the estimated genetic merit of an animal for each recorded
production trait.
Breed average – you are able to compare an EBV to the current breed average. This will give you an
indication of how the animal compares with the current genetic level for the breed for each trait. A
set of breed average EBVs should be enclosed in all BreedPlan reports and sale catalogues, as well
as through your breed’s EBV enquiry.
Outlier – may refer to an animal that is significantly genetically superior/inferior to their
contemporaries.
An Outlier Report highlights potential data recording errors that may have occurred. For example,
incorrect measurements may have been recorded, incorrect animal details may have been recorded
(eg. date of birth, sex), or animals may have been placed in an incorrect contemporary group.
A Percentile Bands Table allows you to compare the animal’s EBVs and assess exactly where the
animal ranks within the breed for each trait.
Single-Step BreedPlan uses genomic (DNA) information in addition to the pedigree and
performance information used in a traditional BreedPlan analysis.
The analysis takes account of each animal’s actual genetic relationship based on its genotype with
all other genotyped animals, including those in the reference population.
Phenotype of an animal refers to the physical characteristics of that animal – what we see. For
information on sturctural soundness, visit the NZ Herefords website. These are the codes we use to
record horn status: H – horned; P – polled; J – pure horned and S –scurred.
Genotype is the genetic makeup of an animal. This can be tested using a single Nucleotide
Polymorphism (SNP) DNA test. Genomic SNP tests are available through PBB with information on
the genomics tab of the NZ Herefords website. Below are the terms and codes we use for horn/poll
genomic results.
• Homozygous Polled PcPc, PcPf, PfPf – a true polled animal and will only produce polled (or
scurred) calves. They will not produce horned calves.
• Heterozygous Polled HPc or HPf – animal is polled or scurred and carries a polled and horned
gene and can produce polled, horned (or scurred) calves.
• Homozygous Horned HH – the animal is horned and can produce horned, polled or scurred
calves.
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Genome – the genetic material of an organism.
Genomics – the study of the genome.
DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid is the carrier of genetic information.
SNP – Single Nucleotide Polymorphism referred to as SNPs (pronounced SNIPS) are DNA markers.
Microsatellite – also referred to as a MIP, was the first type of DNA testing available to breeders.
The reference population is the set of Hereford animals within the Hereford BreedPlan analysis
that have both genotypes (SNP data) and phenotypes (performance records) for a particular trait.
BreedObject is the ABRI programme that creates selection indexes by combining BreedPlan EBVs
into a single value which allows producers to identify animals that are most profitable in a given
production system.
Interbreeding is the mating of animals that are more closely related than the average degree of
relationship within the population.
Line breeding is the strategic use of interbreeding to improve traits found in one family line.
Outbreeding is the opposite of inbreeding i.e increasing the number of heterozygous pairs.
Autosomal recessive is one of several ways that a trait, disorder, or disease can be passed down
through families. An autosomal recessive disorder means two copies of an abnormal gene must be
present in order for the disease or trait to develop.
Genetic conditions (GC) – also referred to as genetic defects or genetic abnormalities.
Listed below are the genetic conditions that have been found in NZ Herefords animals. Refer to the
NZ Herefords website for more information.
• Hypotrichosis (HY)– is an autosomal recessive trait that results in loss of hair.
• Idiopathic epilepsy (IE) – is an autosomal recessive trait that starts with animals lying on their
side with limbs extended in a rigid state, followed by seizures.
• Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) – is an autosomal recessive trait that results in calves that
are born showing symptoms of slowness and dullness, progressing to throwing their heads
back and lying on their sides, unable to rise.
• Mandibulofacial dysostosis (MD) – is an autosomal recessive trait where the calf is born with
facial deformities.
• Diluter (DL) – gene is a dominant gene, so when a Hereford carrier is mated to an animal with
black pigment e.g. a Friesian or an Angus, 50% of cases will produce offspring with a diluted
coat colour.
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