Generating solutions

The Canadian sheep industry is facing growing domestic demand with production levels only meeting 44 per cent of current demand. Imports from countries such as New Zealand and Australia help fill the gap. While other livestock producers in Canada have used genomics solutions to increase production, the ovine sector has not, despite the role of genomics in complementing elite ovine stock selection around the world. The program will establish routine estimation of genomic breeding values by establishing reference populations for the province’s major breeds. This will be done through massive genotyping. The project will also develop complementary genomic-based tools to manage inbreeding, known genetic defects and detection of genomic aberrations, as well as to search for quantitative trait locations using genome-wide association studies. The genomic database will be developed within Genovalia, a newly established data centre at Université Laval, following the FAIR principles. Within three to five years, the expectation is increased demand and use of Quebec-bred elite rams, leading to greater profitability for sheep breeders. All tools developed will be available to sheep producers across Canada. If the increased production successfully meets 100 per cent of domestic demand, the market potential is estimated at nearly $900 million.