scholarly journals Estimation of genetic parameters for female fertility traits in the Czech Holstein population

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (No. 5) ◽  
pp. 199-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Brzáková ◽  
Ludmila Zavadilová ◽  
Josef Přibyl ◽  
Petr Pešek ◽  
Eva Kašná ◽  
...  

Genetic parameters for fertility traits in Czech Holstein population were estimated. The database obtained from the Czech-Moravian Breeders Corporation with 6 414 486 insemination records between years 2005–2015 was used. Date of calving of the selected animals was taken from the database of milk records from 2005–2015. Fertility traits were age at first service (AFS), age at first calving (AFC), days open (DO), calving interval (CI) and first service to conception interval in cows (FSC-C) and heifers (FSC-H). The heritability of each trait was estimated using single-trait animal models. The model included fixed effects of herd-year-season of birth, herd-year-month of calving, lactation order, parity, last calving ease, linear and quadratic regressions on age at first insemination in heifers or on age at first calving in cows. Random effects were animal, permanent environmental effect and random residual error. After edits, the final data set included up to 599 901 observations from up to 448 037 animals dependent on traits. The range of heritability estimates was from 0.010 to 0.058. The lowest heritability was for first service to conception interval in heifers, and the highest heritability was for age at first service. Variances of random permanent effects were higher than variance of additive genetic effect in all traits manifested in mature cows. Repeatability ranged from 0.060 to 0.090. Genetic correlations between traits were estimated using a bivariate animal model. High positive genetic correlations were found between AFS–AFC, DO–CI, FSC-C–DO and FSC-C–CI. A moderate genetic correlation was found between AFS–FSC-H and between AFC. A negative correlation was found between AFS–FSC-C. Correlations between other traits were close to zero. The results suggest that the level of these reproductive traits can be improved by selection of animals with high genetic merit.

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (9) ◽  
pp. 3669-3683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piush Khanal ◽  
Christian Maltecca ◽  
Clint Schwab ◽  
Kent Gray ◽  
Francesco Tiezzi

Abstract Swine industry breeding goals are mostly directed towards meat quality and carcass traits due to their high economic value. Yet, studies on meat quality and carcass traits including both phenotypic and genotypic information remain limited, particularly in commercial crossbred swine. The objectives of this study were to estimate the heritabilities for different carcass composition traits and meat quality traits and to estimate the genetic and phenotypic correlations between meat quality, carcass composition, and growth traits in 2 large commercial swine populations: The Maschhoffs LLC (TML) and Smithfield Premium Genetics (SPG), using genotypes and phenotypes data. The TML data set consists of 1,254 crossbred pigs genotyped with 60K SNP chip and phenotyped for meat quality, carcass composition, and growth traits. The SPG population included over 35,000 crossbred pigs phenotyped for meat quality, carcass composition, and growth traits. For TML data sets, the model included fixed effects of dam line, contemporary group (CG), gender, as well as random additive genetic effect and pen nested within CG. For the SPG data set, fixed effects included parity, gender, and CG, as well as random additive genetic effect and harvest group. Analyses were conducted using BLUPF90 suite of programs. Univariate and bivariate analyses were implemented to estimate heritabilities and correlations among traits. Primal yield traits were uniquely created in this study. Heritabilities [high posterior density interval] of meat quality traits ranged from 0.08 [0.03, 0.16] for pH and 0.08 [0.03, 0.1] for Minolta b* to 0.27 [0.22, 0.32] for marbling score, except intramuscular fat with the highest estimate of 0.52 [0.40, 0.62]. Heritabilities of primal yield traits were higher than that of primal weight traits and ranged from 0.17 [0.13, 0.25] for butt yield to 0.45 [0.36, 0.55] for ham yield. The genetic correlations of meat quality and carcass composition traits with growth traits ranged from moderate to high in both directions. High genetic correlations were observed for male and female for all traits except pH. The genetic parameter estimates of this study indicate that a multitrait approach should be considered for selection programs aimed at meat quality and carcass composition in commercial swine populations.


2009 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Wolc ◽  
G. Torzynski ◽  
T. Szwaczkowski

Reproductive efficiency is an important issue in horse breeding. However, almost no estimates of genetic parameters of reproductive traits in horses can be found in the literature. The objective of the study was to estimate heritability and genetic trends of foaling rate and number of reproductive seasons in Warmblood horses. The records of 3965 mares from six studs were analyzed. Mares were on average kept for 7.3 reproductive seasons with a foaling rate of 66%. Models included fixed effects of stud, period of birth, breed and random additive genetic effect. Heritability estimates were 0.12 for foaling rate and 0.17 for number of reproductive seasons. Key words: Heritability, reproduction, horse


2001 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Legarra ◽  
E. Ugarte

AbstractA total of 7444 lactation records which include milk, fat and protein yields (MY, FY, PY) and fat and protein content (F%, P%) from 6429 Black-Faced Latxa ewes were employed to estimate genetic parameters for milk traits. Traits were standardized to 120 days of lactation. For the calculation of composition traits, not all test-days had their composition measured and therefore a correction taking this into account was included in the analysis. A first-derivative restricted maximum likelihood algorithm was used on an animal model with repeatability analysis, using models including fixed effects (flock-year-season of lambing, age-parity at lambing, number of lambs, interval between lambing and first milk recording and the combination of sampled test-days) and random effects (the additive genetic effect and the permanent environmental effect). The resulting heritabilities were 0·20, 0·16, 0·18, 0·14 and 0·38 for MY, FY, PY, F% and P% respectively. Heritability of F% was much lower than expected, probably due to problems derived from the recording method. Genetic correlations were high and positive between yields and moderately positive between F% and P%, and negative or null between yields and composition, as has been reported for other European dairy sheep breeds. As most of the milk produced by Latxa dairy sheep is processed into cheese, the inclusion of milk sampling in official milk recording and a change in the selection criterion are recommended to avoid a long-term worsening in milk composition.


2007 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 562-574
Author(s):  
L. Vostrý ◽  
J. Přibyl ◽  
Z. Veselá ◽  
V. Jakubec

Abstract. The objective of this paper was to select a suitable data subset and statistical model for the estimation of genetic parameters for weaning weight of beef cattle in the Czech Republic. Nine subsets were tested for the selection of a suitable subset. The subsets differed from each other in the limit of sampling criteria. The most suitable subset satisfied these conditions: at least 5 individuals per each sire, 5 individuals per HYS (herd, year, season), 2 sires per HYS, and individuals per dams that have at least one half-sister and two offspring (n = 4 806). The selection of a suitable model was carried out from 10 models. These models comprised some of the random effects: direct genetic effect, maternal genetic effect, permanent maternal environment effect, HYS, sire × herd or sire × year interaction, and some of the fixed effects: dam’s age, sex (young bull, heifer × single, twin born), HYS, year, herd. The direct heritability (h2a) ranged from 0.06 to 0.17, of maternal heritability (h2m) from 0.03 to 0.06. The genetic correlations between the direct and maternal effect (ram) were in the range of –0.15 –0.42.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (10) ◽  
pp. 1788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graziela M. F. Rocha ◽  
Jaime A. Cobuci ◽  
Cláudio N. Costa ◽  
Luíza R. A. Abreu ◽  
Lúcio F. M. Mota ◽  
...  

The objective was to estimate the genetic parameters for the cow’s ability to stay in the herd (stayability) until 48 and 54 months of age (STAY48 and STAY54) and up to 36 and 48 months after the first calving (STAY36ac and STAY48ac), and their associations with 305-day milk production (MP305) in the first lactation, age at first calving and first calving interval, from the first three lactations of cows reared in Brazil and born between 1987 and 2006. The covariance components were estimated by bivariate analyses, using the Bayesian approach. The a posteriori distributions of the components of interest were obtained with the Gibbs sampler. Fixed effect of contemporary group, additive and residual random genetic effect, and age of dam as covariate (linear and quadratic) were included in the analyses. Low heritability values were obtained for most traits, except for STAY48ac and MP305. Genetic correlation estimates between age at first calving and stayability traits were high and positive, except for STAY48ac. In addition, we detected genetic correlations between MP305 and STAY36ac and STAY48ac. In conclusion, we can infer that genetic correlations between MP305, and STAY36ac and STAY48ac indicate that the current focus on selection of animals for improved milk production in the first lactation can lead to genetic gains on longevity, although not expressive.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mojca Simčič ◽  
Barbara Luštrek ◽  
Miran Štepec ◽  
Betka Logar ◽  
Klemen Potočnik

The aim of this study was to estimate genetic parameters of 26 individual and four composite type traits in first parity Cika cows. An analysis of variance was performed with the generalized linear model procedure of the SAS/STAT statistical package, where the fixed effects of year of recording, cow’s age at recording and days after calving as a linear regression were included in the model. The variance components for the direct additive genetic effect and the herd effect in all type traits were estimated using the REML method in the VCE-6 software package. The estimated heritabilities ranged from 0.42 to 0.67 for the measured body frame traits, from 0.36 to 0.80 for the scored autochthonous traits, from 0.11 to 0.61 for the scored body frame traits, and from 0.20 to 0.47 for the scored udder traits. The estimated heritabilities for the composite traits called “autochthonous characteristics”, “muscularity”, “body frame” and “udder” were 0.55, 0.19, 0.19, and 0.26, respectively. The estimated genetic correlations among the measured body frame traits were positive and high, while the majority of them among the scored body frame traits were low to moderate. The estimated proportions of variance explained by the herd effect for the composite traits “autochthonous characteristics,” “muscularity,” “body frame” and “udder” were 0.09, 0.28, 0.14, and 0.10, respectively. The estimated heritabilities for the type traits of first parity Cika cows were similar to those reported for other breeds where breeding values have been routinely predicted for a long time. All estimated genetic parameters are already used for breeding value prediction in the Cika cattle population.


Author(s):  
Ludmila Zavadilová ◽  
Eva Kašná ◽  
Zuzana Krupová

Genomic breeding values (GEBV) were predicted for claw diseases/disorders in Holstein cows. The data sets included 6,498, 6,641 and 16,208 cows for the three groups of analysed disorders. The analysed traits were infectious diseases (ID), including digital and interdigital dermatitis and interdigital phlegmon, and non-infectious diseases (NID), including ulcers, white line disease, horn fissures, and double sole and overall claw disease (OCD), comprising all recorded disorders. Claw diseases/disorders were defined as 0/1 occurrence per lactation. Linear animal models were employed for prediction of conventional breeding values (BV) and genomic breeding values (GEBV), including the random additive genetic effect of animal and the permanent environmental effect of cow and fixed effects of parity, herd, year and month of calving. Both high and intermediate weights (80% and 50%, respectively) of genomic information were employed for GEBV50 and GEBV80 prediction. The estimated heritability for ID was 3.47%, whereas that for NID 4.61% and for OCD was 2.29%. Approximate genetic correlations among claw diseases/disorders traits ranged from 19% (ID x NID) to 81% (NID x OCD). The correlations between predicted BV and GEBV50 (84–99%) were higher than those between BV and GEBV80 (70–98%). Reliability of breeding values was low for each claw disease/disorder (on average, 3.7 to 14.8%) and increased with the weight of genomic information employed.


2004 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. L. Fernandes ◽  
J. W. Wilton ◽  
J. J. Tosh

Data on ultrasound traits (loin depth, average backfat thickness, and loin width) were collected from lambs (n = 3483) across Ontario, born between 1997 and 1999. The data were analysed with a REML procedure in a multiple-trait mixed-animal model to obtain (co)variance component estimates. Analyses of all traits included the additive genetic effect of the lamb, sex of the lamb, contemporary group, and breed group effects. Weight or age was included as a covariate in two separate analyses. Estimates of direct additive heritabilities for loin depth, average backfat thickness, and loin width were 0.29, 0.29 and 0.26 respectively, with genetic correlations of -0.17 between loin depth and average backfat thickness, 0.43 between loin depth and loin width, and 0.23 between loin width and average backfat thickness for the weight constant analysis. When the data were analysed using age in the regression analysis, corresponding estimates of direct additive heritabilities were 0.38, 0.35 and 0.30, and genetic correlations between traits were all positive, 0.29 between loin depth and average backfat thickness, 0.61 between loin depth and loin width, and 0.44 between loin width and average backfat thickness. Results indicate that it is possible to make genetic improvement if selection is based on ultrasound information. Key words: Sheep, genetic parameters, heritability, ultrasound


2000 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. N. Kadarmideen ◽  
R. Thompson ◽  
G. Simm

AbstractThis study provides estimates of genetic parameters for various diseases, fertility and 305-day milk production traits in dairy cattle using data from a UK national milk recording scheme. The data set consisted of 63891 multiple lactation records on diseases (mastitis, lameness, milk fever, ketosis and tetany), fertility traits (calving interval, conception to first service, number of services for a conception, and number of days to first service), dystocia and 305-day milk, fat and protein yield. All traits were analysed by multi-trait repeatability linear animal models (LM). Binary diseases and fertility traits were further analysed by threshold sire models (TM). Both LM and TM analyses were based on the generalized linear mixed model framework. The LM included herd-year-season of calving (HYS), age at calving and parity as fixed effects and genetic, permanent environmental and residual effects as random. The TM analyses included the same effects as for LM, but HYS effects were treated as random to avoid convergence problems when HYS sub-classes had 0 or 100% incidence. Because HYS effects were treated as random, herd effects were fitted as fixed effects to account for effect of herds in the data. The LM estimates of heritability ranged from 0•389 to 0•399 for 305-day milk production traits, 0•010 to 0•029 for fertility traits and 0•004 to 0•038 for diseases. The LM estimates of repeatability ranged from 0•556 to 0•586 for 305-day milk production traits, 0•029 to 0•086 for fertility traits and 0•004 to 0•100 for diseases. The TM estimates of heritabilities and repeatabilities were greater than LM estimates for binary traits and were in the range 0•012 to 0•126 and 0•013 to 0•168, respectively. Genetic correlations between milk production traits and fertility and diseases were all unfavorable: they ranged from 0•07 to 0•37 for milk production and diseases, 0•31 to 0•54 for milk production and poor fertility and 0•06 to 0•41 for diseases and poor fertility. These results show that future selection programmes should include disease and fertility for genetic improvement of health and reproduction and for sustained economic growth in the dairy cattle industry.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2122
Author(s):  
Michaela Brzáková ◽  
Jindřich Čítek ◽  
Alena Svitáková ◽  
Zdeňka Veselá ◽  
Luboš Vostrý

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for age at first calving (AFC) and first calving interval (FCI) for the entire beef cattle population and separately for the Charolais (CH) and Aberdeen Angus (AA) breeds in the Czech Republic. The database of performance testing between the years 1991 and 2019 was used. The total number of cows was 83,788 from 11 breeds. After editing, the data set contained 33,533 cows, including 9321 and 4419 CH and AA cows, respectively. The relationship matrix included 85,842 animals for the entire beef population and 24,248 and 11,406 animals for the CH and AA breeds, respectively. A multibreed multitrait animal model was applied. The estimated heritability was low to moderate. Genetic correlations between AFC and FCI varied depending on the breeds from positive to negative. Differences between variance components suggest that differences between breeds should be considered before selection and breeding strategy should be developed within a breed.


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