155 Development of a selection index for the

The Reggiana population is a dairy cattle breed reared in the province of Reggio Emilia, located in the Italian Po Valley. Milk from this breed has been mainly used for the production of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. The Reggiana breed has shrunk from 84,000 cows in 1940 to 200 animals in 1984, having being replaced by much more productive HolsteinFriesian cows. Thanks to government support the breed was recovered in the last two decades, and currently close to 1000 cows are milk recorded. Selection has been based mainly on milk yield and produced moderate genetic progress for production (60 kg milk/yr, 2.5 kg fat/yr and 1.5 kg protein/yr) and phenotypic and genetic decrease for protein percent. In order to invert the negative genetic trend for protein percentage, unsuitable for Parmigiano Reggiano production, a selection index was developed that accounted for milk price for cheese production. The new index with economic weights of -26%, +7% and +67% emphasis for milk, fat and protein yield respectively, was found to increase protein percentage 10-yr genetic progress, and to greatly increase protein yield genetic progress (3.3 kg/yr), leaving milk and fat yields at current levels (61 kg milk/yr and 2.5 kg fat/yr).