title: Prediction of breeding values for dairy cattle using artificial neural networks and neuro-fuzzy systems.
abstract: Developing machine learning and soft computing techniques has provided many opportunities for researchers to establish new analytical methods in different areas of science. The objective of this study is to investigate the potential of two types of intelligent learning methods, artificial neural networks and neuro-fuzzy systems, in order to estimate breeding values (EBV) of Iranian dairy cattle. Initially, the breeding values of lactating Holstein cows for milk and fat yield were estimated using conventional best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) with an animal model. Once that was established, a multilayer perceptron was used to build ANN to predict breeding values from the performance data of selection candidates. Subsequently, fuzzy logic was used to form an NFS, a hybrid intelligent system that was implemented via a local linear model tree algorithm. For milk yield the correlations between EBV and EBV predicted by the ANN and NFS were 0.92 and 0.93, respectively. Corresponding correlations for fat yield were 0.93 and 0.93, respectively. Correlations between multitrait predictions of EBVs for milk and fat yield when predicted simultaneously by ANN were 0.93 and 0.93, respectively, whereas corresponding correlations with reference EBV for multitrait NFS were 0.94 and 0.95, respectively, for milk and fat production.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. shahinfar@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Saleh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahinfar
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mehrabani-Yeganeh
authors.forename: Caro
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalhor
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kazemian
authors.forename: Kent A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Weigel
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods*; D002417:Cattle; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003612:Dairying; D005260:Female; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D007774:Lactation; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008892:Milk; D023421:Models, Animal; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer