Evaluating Animal Breeding Programmes

Dr. Piter Bijma has served as Assistant Professor at Wageningen University's Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre since 2001, where he has established himself as a pioneer in quantitative genetics and animal breeding. After joining Wageningen University in 1996, he completed his PhD on predicting inbreeding rates in selected populations, collaborating with Prof. John Woolliams of the Roslin Institute. His research has significantly advanced our understanding of social interactions in animal breeding through the development of Indirect Genetic Effects (IGE) models, demonstrating how these effects contribute to heritable variation and selection response. Working closely with Dr. Esther Ellen, he has shown that breeders need to modify their breeding schemes to utilize this heritable variation effectively. More recently, in collaboration with Prof. Mart de Jong, his work has expanded to integrate quantitative epidemiology with genetics, focusing on modeling disease transmission and designing breeding programs to reduce infectious disease prevalence in livestock populations. Throughout his career, he has supervised 21 PhD students and contributed significantly to both undergraduate and graduate education through courses in Animal Breeding and Genetics, Population and Quantitative Genetics, and Life History Evolution. His work has garnered significant attention, with his publications on genetic contributions and breeding value estimation being widely cited in the field. As a key instructor for MOOCs in Genetic Models for Animal Breeding and Evaluating Animal Breeding Programmes, he continues to shape the next generation of animal breeding specialists while advancing our understanding of complex genetic interactions in livestock populations.