Relationship between central performance test for growth in Hereford bulls and growth and carcass traits of progeny

1984 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Baker ◽  
B. W. Wickham ◽  
C. A. Morris

ABSTRACTFour central performance tests of growth in Hereford bulls from about 10 to 19 months of age on pasture were conducted in New Zealand. From the 100 bulls performance tested 63 were representatively sampled, including bulls with high and low performance test rankings, and progeny tested in dairy herds. Crossbred progeny were purchased from the dairy herds at 3 to 4 months of age, assembled in one location and reared together on pasture for 14 to 15 months prior to slaughter. Regressions of progeny growth and carcass traits on a number of different performance traits for growth of their sires were in almost all cases not statistically significant. The effective heritability, from offspring-sire regression, was 0·07 (s.e. 0·05) for final live weight and 009 (s.e. 0·06) for post weaning gain from about 200 to 550 days of age. It is concluded that central performance tests, as presently conducted in New Zealand, are of limited value for ranking breeding values of bulls for growth. Possible reasons for these results are discussed. It is suggested that pre-test environmental effects and age at the start of the central test are critical factors.

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 55-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Bahelka ◽  
P. Fľak ◽  
Anna Lukácová

The effect of own performance traits of meat breed boars on fattening and carcass parameters of progeny in two different test stations (Bucany and Nitra) was evaluated. Own performance traits of boars were average daily gain (ADG) from birth to 100 kg live weight, backfat thickness (BF) and lean meat content (LMC) in field conditions. Progeny of boars was housed in pairs (gilt and barrow) and fed standardized feed mixture semi ad libitum. Progeny test lasted from 30 to 100 kg live weight. There were evaluated following parameters: ADG and feed consumption/kg gain (FC) at test from 30 to 100 kg live weight, slaughter weight (SW), proportion of meaty cuts (PMC) proportion of ham (PHAM), eye muscle area (EMA), and BF. At Bucany and Nitra was found the effect of genotype of boars on progeny BF and/or FC respectively. Better tested boars from own performance test individually as well as a group achieved in progeny better fattening and carcass traits than worse tested boars at Bucany (+33 g ADG, -0.21 cm BF, +2.34 % PMC). Progeny performance from better evaluated boars at Nitra did not exceed the progeny performance from worse tested boars. There was found significant effect of dams on progeny performance.


1985 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Simm ◽  
C. Smith ◽  
J. H. D. Prescott

ABSTRACTMeasurements of growth rate, food intake and food conversion efficiency on 235 Hereford bulls, from the first 4 years of a selection experiment, were used to assess the effects of rearing method, dam age and year/season of birth. Bulls were either reared artificially from birth to 84 days of age, or reared on their own dam to 84 or 168 days of age, to examine whether non-genetic effects on performance could be reduced by early weaning. All bulls were performance tested on ad libitum feeding from 200 to 400 days of age. Artificially-reared bulls had lower live weights at the start of test, which led to higher food conversion efficiency on test. Bulls reared naturally to 84 days of age were least affected by dam age and year/season of birth and performed as well as those weaned at 168 days of age. Earlier weaning of bulls entering central performance tests would reduce these environmental effects on performance, and may increase the accuracy of identifying bulls with genetically-superior growth and efficiency.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Franziska Weik ◽  
Rebecca E. Hickson ◽  
Stephen T. Morris ◽  
Dorian J. Garrick ◽  
Jason A. Archer

Research has shown that enhancing finishing performance in beef cows is feasible; however, any adverse impact of selection strategies for finishing performance on the performance of the maternal herd should be taken into account. The aim of this research was to examine the inheritance of growth, ultrasound and carcass traits in finishing beef cattle and to evaluate their correlations with maternal performance traits. Data were collected from a nationwide progeny test on commercial New Zealand hill country farms comprising a total of 4473 beef cows and their progeny. Most finishing traits were moderately to highly heritable (0.28–0.58) with the exception of meat or fat colour and ossification (0.00–0.12). Ultrasound scan traits had high genetic correlations with corresponding traits measured at slaughter (rg = 0.53–0.95) and may be used as a selection tool for improved genetic merit of the beef carcass. Fat content determined via ultrasound scanning in the live animal or at slaughter in finishing cattle is positively genetically correlated with rebreeding performance (rg = 0.22–0.39) in female herd replacements and negatively correlated with mature cow live weight (rg = −0.40 to −0.19). Low-magnitude associations were observed between the genetic merit for carcass fat traits with body condition in mature cows.


Author(s):  
W.P. De Lange

The Greenhouse Effect acts to slow the escape of infrared radiation to space, and hence warms the atmosphere. The oceans derive almost all of their thermal energy from the sun, and none from infrared radiation in the atmosphere. The thermal energy stored by the oceans is transported globally and released after a range of different time periods. The release of thermal energy from the oceans modifies the behaviour of atmospheric circulation, and hence varies climate. Based on ocean behaviour, New Zealand can expect weather patterns similar to those from 1890-1922 and another Little Ice Age may develop this century.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Byoungho Park ◽  
Tae Jeong Choi ◽  
Mi Na Park ◽  
Sang-Hyon Oh

Objective: The purpose of this study was i) to identify the characteristics of carcass traits in Chikso by gender, region, age at slaughter, and coat color using the carcass data collected from the nationwide pedigree information and coat color investigation, and ii) to estimate genetic parameters for breed improvement.Methods: A linear model was used to analyze the environmental effects on the carcass traits and to estimate genetic parameters. Analysis of variance was performed using TYPE III sum of squares for the unbalanced data provided by the general linear model procedure. Variance components for genetic parameters was estimated using REMLF90 of the BLUPF90 family programs.Results: Phenotypic performance of carcass weight (CW), eye muscle area (EMA), and backfat thickness (BF) in Chikso were lower than those of Hanwoo. This is a natural outcome because Hanwoo have undergone significant efforts for improvement at the national level, a phenomenon not observed in Chikso. Another factor influencing the above outcome was the smaller population size of Chikso compared to that of Hanwoo’s. The heritabilities of CW, EMA, BF, and marbling score in Chikso were estimated as 0.50, 0.37, 0.35, and 0.53, respectively, which were was higher than those of Hanwoo.Conclusion: Based on the genetic parameters that were estimated in this study, it is expected that the carcass traits will improve when the livestock research institutes at each province conduct small-scale performance tests and the semen is provided to farmers after selecting proven bulls using the state-of-art selection technique such as genomic selection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 9566
Author(s):  
Tommaso Caloiero ◽  
Gaetano Pellicone ◽  
Giuseppe Modica ◽  
Ilaria Guagliardi

Landscape management requires spatially interpolated data, whose outcomes are strictly related to models and geostatistical parameters adopted. This paper aimed to implement and compare different spatial interpolation algorithms, both geostatistical and deterministic, of rainfall data in New Zealand. The spatial interpolation techniques used to produce finer-scale monthly rainfall maps were inverse distance weighting (IDW), ordinary kriging (OK), kriging with external drift (KED), and ordinary cokriging (COK). Their performance was assessed by the cross-validation and visual examination of the produced maps. The results of the cross-validation clearly evidenced the usefulness of kriging in the spatial interpolation of rainfall data, with geostatistical methods outperforming IDW. Results from the application of different algorithms provided some insights in terms of strengths and weaknesses and the applicability of the deterministic and geostatistical methods to monthly rainfall. Based on the RMSE values, the KED showed the highest values only in April, whereas COK was the most accurate interpolator for the other 11 months. By contrast, considering the MAE, the KED showed the highest values in April, May, June and July, while the highest values have been detected for the COK in the other months. According to these results, COK has been identified as the best method for interpolating rainfall distribution in New Zealand for almost all months. Moreover, the cross-validation highlights how the COK was the interpolator with the best least bias and scatter in the cross-validation test, with the smallest errors.


Author(s):  
Chikkagoudara Kotresh Prasad ◽  
John Abraham ◽  
Balusami Chinnappan ◽  
Roshin Anie Jose ◽  
Senthil Murugan ◽  
...  

Background: The intensive rearing systems of goats needs dietary formulations that will meet animal requirements, mainly the protein and energy to allow optimum growth rate. Alternative systems to attain 15-20 kg body weight by three months of age with better meat quality is need of the hour. Broiler goat production system is most suitable system of rearing for meat goat production. The current study was conducted to examine the impact of broiler goat production system on the carcass traits and meat quality characteristics of Malabari male kids. Methods: Fourteen pre-weaned kids were randomly allotted to two treatments. Treatment-I (T1) kids were allowed to suckle thrice a day during four weeks and twice in a day during consequent weeks. Whereas in Treatment-II (T2), kids were reared intensively by providing finely ground concentrate feed mixed with equal quantity of rice gruel from a feeding bottle after 7 days of colostrum feeding from the mother. The animals were slaughtered at an age of three months and the final body weight, carcass traits like dressing percentage, weight of different body parts and meat quality parameters like pH, color, cooking loss and shear force were analysed. The proximate composition and sensory evaluation was performed. Result: Broiler goat production system could produce significantly (P less than 0.01) higher final average body weight compared to natural system. All the carcass traits were significantly (P less than 0.01) higher in T2. The broiler goat production system could double the net live weight during the same period compared to natural suckling system with higher dressing % and the chevon produced was tender with less cooking loss. Hence, this system can be recommended for chevon production in shorter period with higher dressing % and lesser cooking loss in Malabari male kids.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document