Genetic correlations between measured methane and production traits improved prediction accuracy for methane in Australian Merino sheep

Michael N Aldridge; D.J. Brown; Peter T Fitzgerald; E. H. Clayton; A. Donaldson; Bronwyn Clarke; B. Paganoni; S.I. Mortimer; V.H. Oddy; J.H.J. van der Werf

Genetic correlations between measured methane and production traits improved prediction accuracy for methane in Australian Merino sheep

Conference paper

Open access

Genetic correlations between measured methane and production traits improved prediction accuracy for methane in Australian Merino sheep

Michael N Aldridge, D.J. Brown, Peter T Fitzgerald, E. H. Clayton, A. Donaldson, Bronwyn Clarke, B. Paganoni, S.I. Mortimer, V.H. Oddy and J.H.J. van der Werf

13th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP2026) (Frank Lloyd Wright designed Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, WI, 12/07/2026–17/07/2026)

07/2026

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Abstract

Reducing livestock methane emissions is crucial for sustainable productivity and maintaining social license. The Australian sheep industry has a relatively small methane footprint with just 12% of Australia’s 2.3% contribution to global ruminant enteric methane emissions (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2023). Regardless, the Australian sheep industry is vulnerable to climate change impacts and is expected to contribute to global warming mitigation efforts. Australian studies estimated the heritability of methane production to range between 0.12 and 0.19 (Robinson et al., 2014, Goopy et al., 2015, Paganoni et al., 2017, Wahinya et al, 2022, Sepulveda et al., 2022), supporting the development of a methane reference population, through which partners and breeders that participated in the study of Aldridge et al. (2025) have been provided with project breeding values for methane, with wider industry dissemination of EBVs anticipated via Sheep Genetics…

Details

Title: Genetic correlations between measured methane and production traits improved prediction accuracy for methane in Australian Merino sheep
Authors/Creators: Michael N Aldridge (Author)
D.J. Brown (Author) - Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit
Peter T Fitzgerald (Author) - University of New England
E. H. Clayton (Author) - NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (Armidale, Australia)
A. Donaldson - NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (Armidale, Australia)
Bronwyn Clarke (Author) - Murdoch University, Centre for Animal Production and Health
B. Paganoni (Author) - Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), Western Australia
S.I. Mortimer (Author) - NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (Armidale, Australia)
V.H. Oddy - University of New England
J.H.J. van der Werf (Author) - University of New England
Conference: 13th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP2026) (Frank Lloyd Wright designed Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, WI, 12/07/2026–17/07/2026)
Identifiers: 991005911977907891
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Animal Production and Health
Language: English
Resource Type: Conference paper

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