Genetic studies on growth, reproduction and wool productiontraits in Harnali sheep

Author(s):  
SPACE Lalit ◽  
Z. S. Malik ◽  
D. S. Dalal ◽  
C. S. Patil ◽  
S. P. Dahiya

Data on growth, reproduction and wool traits of 1603 Harnali sheep maintained at Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar over a period of 22 years (1992-2013) were utilized for genetic analysis. The overall least squares mean for birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), six month body weight (SMW), age at first lambing (AFL), weight at lambing (WL), average lambing interval (ALI), greasy fleece weight (GFW), staple length (SL) and Fibre diameter (FD) were estimated as 3.35±0.02 kg, 12.41±0.08 kg, 16.30±0.12 kg, 707.05±2.07 days, 26.91±0.10 kg and 402.85±2.40 days, 1.62±0.02 kg, 5.65±0.03 cm and 25.85±0.07 μ, respectively. The effect of year of birth, sex of lamb and dam's weight at lambing were significant for all growth traits. The effect of year of birth and dam's weight at lambing were significant for all reproduction traits and GFW. No definite trend was observed over the years for body weights and reproductive traits. The effect of sex was significant for early growth traits. The heritability estimates were moderate for all the growth traits with high genetic correlations of BW and WW with SMW. Reproduction traits had lower estimates of heritability which indicated presence of lower additive genetic variance for these traits. Heritability estimates for studied wool traits were moderate to high. Positive genetic and phenotypic correlation of BW and WW with six month body weight and grease fleece weight indicated that selection for six month body weight would increase body weight and grease fleece weight.

2020 ◽  
pp. 72-78
Author(s):  
Angie Poliquit

The establishment of breeding and selection programs to improve the genetic potential of poultry necessitates estimation of genetic parameters for different production and reproduction traits, Restricted maximum likelihood (REML) software was used to estimate the heritability (h2) and genetic correlations (r) of body weights in Japanese quails (C. japonica) from hatch to fifth week of age. A total of 224 Japanese quails composed of 56 males and 168 females arranged in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) served as the base population. Body weight records, measured weekly from hatch to fifth week, were utilized to estimate the genetic parameters. Heritability estimates were 0.093±0.004, 0244±0.010, 0.031±0.001, 0082±0.004, 0325±0.016 and 0.025±0.001 for body weights at hatch (BW0), first week (BW1), second week (BW2), third week (BW3), fourth week (BW4) and fifth week (BW5), respectively. Low heritability estimates depict a decrease in additive genetic variance as the generations progressed. Negative genetic correlation was found between BW0 and BW4 (r=- 0.027). The significant positive genetic correlations of BW0 with BW1 (r=0.271); BW1 with BW2 (r=0.270), BW3 (r=0.294), BW4 (r=0.255), and BW5 (r=0.243); BW2 with BW3 (r=0.561), BW4 (r=0.649), and BW5 (r=0.503); BW3 with BW4 (r=0.726), and BW5 (r=0.551); and BW4 with BW5 (r=0.689) are expected to bring correlated responses in the other traits.


1994 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
LD Brash ◽  
NM Fogarty ◽  
SA Barwick ◽  
AR Gilmour

Analyses of two separate Border Leicester data sets are reported. In the first set, genetic parameters were estimated for 14 month liveweight and greasy fleece weight from 1312 ewe and ram records representing 75 sires of the Border Leicester and Glen Vale breeds (a related genotype) using derivative-free REML procedures. The heritability estimate for liveweight was 0.24 � 0.07 and greasy fleece weight was 0.17 � 0-05, with the genetic correlation being -0 21 � 0 -30 and phenotypic correlation 0.54 � 0.02. In the second data set, reproductive performance was analysed and genetic parameters were estimated from 7395 joining records for 1604 ewes, representing 165 sires, from two Border Leicester stud flocks. Reproduction traits analysed were fertility (ewes lambing of ewes joined), litter size (lambs born per ewe lambing) and lambs born (per ewe joined). The studs differed in performance for all reproductive traits; fertility (67 v. 82%), litter size (1-27 v. 1-43) and lambs born (85 v. 117%). The estimates of heritability and repeatability respectively for ewe performance were: fertility 0.01 � 0.01 and 0.05 � 0 01, litter size 0.01 � 0.02 and 0.05 � 0.01, lambs born 0.00 � 0.01 and 0.06 � 0.01. Estimates of heritability for average ewe lifetime performance were 0.04% 0.05 for fertility, 0-02 �0.05 for litter size and 0.03 � 0.05 for lambs born, based on averages of 4.6 joining and 3.5 litter size records for ewes. The genetic correlations between lambs born and its components fertility (0.96 � 0.18) and litter size (0.83 � 0.44) were high, with the genetic correlation between fertility and litter size being 0.65 � 0.52. Implications for breeding programs for Border Leicester flocks within LAMBPLAN are discussed.


2002 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 281 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. W. P. Cloete ◽  
J. C. Greeff ◽  
R. P. Lewer

Heritability estimates (h2) for weight of lamb weaned and number of lambs weaned totalled over 3 reproduction opportunities were estimated in a multi-bloodline Western Australian medium wool resource flock. These traits were defined to give an indication of lifetime lamb production (the ewes were retained in the breeding flock for a maximum of 4 lambing opportunities). Both reproduction traits were highly variable, as suggested by coefficients of variation of approximately 50%. The between-bloodline variance ratio was significant (P < 0.05), but failed to exceed 5% of the total across-bloodline phenotypic variation. Within-bloodline h2 ( s.e.) was estimated at 0.154 0.040 for total weight of lamb weaned, and at 0.141 0.040 for total number of lambs weaned. Within-bloodline genetic correlations of both traits with hogget liveweight were positive and significant (P < 0.05; 0.58 0.11 and 0.26 0.13, respectively). Within-bloodline genetic correlations of the reproduction traits with wool production were generally positive, being 0.26 0.11 for the correlation between total weight of lamb weaned and clean fleece weight, and 0.29 0.15 for the correlation between total number of lambs weaned and clean fleece weight. Clean yield was genetically unrelated to both measures of reproductivity. The genetic correlation of total weight of lamb weaned per breeding ewe with fibre diameter was positive in sign, but smaller than twice its standard error (0.17 0.10). The corresponding estimate for total number of lambs weaned was 0.16 0.12. It was concluded that the reproduction traits investigated would respond to selection in Western Australian Merinos if it should form part of a breeding strategy. Genetic correlations with hogget liveweight and wool traits were generally favourable.


2009 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Afolayan ◽  
N. M. Fogarty ◽  
A. R. Gilmour ◽  
V. M. Ingham ◽  
G. M. Gaunt ◽  
...  

Genetic correlations between reproductive and productivity traits of ewes and their early growth, wool production and worm resistance traits were estimated among 2460 crossbred ewes. The ewes were progeny of 74 maternal breed sires and mainly Merino dams. The ewes were born over 3 years and had three joinings with a total of 6824 ewe joining records. The reproductive and ewe productivity traits included: (i) fertility (ewes lambing per ewe joined); (ii) litter size (number of lambs born per ewe lambing); (iii) rearing ability or lamb survival (lambs weaned of lambs born for lambing ewes); (iv) number of lambs born (NLBj) per ewe joined; (v) number of lambs weaned (NLWj) per ewe joined; (vi) total litter weight weaned (TWWj) per ewe joined; and (vii) the component trait average lamb weaning weight in the litter (AWW). The growth traits included the weight of the ewe at birth (BWT), weaning (WWT) and postweaning (PWWT), as well as growth rate pre- and postweaning. The wool traits included greasy (GFW) and clean fleece weight (CFW), yield and average fibre diameter (FD) at their first adult shearing. Worm egg count (WEC) during their first year was also recorded. Bivariate mixed models analyses using ASReml procedures were used to estimate the genetic correlations. The genetic correlations between TWWj and growth traits were positive and moderate to high and ranged from 0.34 for BWT to 0.61 for PWWT. Those for the other composite reproductive traits were slightly lower and ranged from 0.27 to 0.54 for NLWj and from 0.07 to 0.46 for NLBj. The genetic correlations between the overall measures of reproduction (NLBj, NLWj and TWWj) and GFW, CFW and FD were negative and generally low to moderate (–0.21 to –0.52). The correlations were generally larger for NLBj than for NLWj and TWWj. The genetic correlations between the reproductive traits and WEC were close to zero, except between AWW and WEC (0.42). The phenotypic correlations between the reproductive traits and the growth, wool and WEC traits were all close to zero. The genetic correlations were generally favourable between ewe reproduction and growth, with early selection for traits such as WWT and PWWT likely to give some improvement in subsequent reproduction and ewe productivity. In contrast, there appears to be a slight antagonism between reproduction and wool production. This study provides estimates of genetic correlations from crossbred ewes that add to the limited knowledge of these parameters that will improve the accuracy of genetic evaluation and prediction of the outcomes from breeding programs for meat and wool objectives that include reproduction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-22
Author(s):  
M. Orunmuyi ◽  
I. A. Adeyinka ◽  
O.O Oni

A study was conducted to estimate the genetic parameters of fertility and hatchability in two strains of Rhode Island Red (RIR) Chickens denoted as Strain A and Strain B respectively using the full-sib (sire +dam variance) and maternal half-sib (dam variance) components. The birds were obtained from the selected populations of RIR Chickens kept at the poultry breeding programme of National Animal Production Research Institute, Shika, Zaria, Nigeria. Settable eggs were collected from mating 28 cocks to 252 hens in a ratio of 1cock:9 hens from each strain. Eggs were pedigreed according to sire and dam. Results showed that values obtained for number of egg set (EGGSET), number of fertile eggs (NFERT), number of hatched chicks (NHATCH), percentage of chicks hatched from total eggs set (PHATCH) and percentage of chicks hatched from fertile eggs (PHATCHBL) were all higher in strain A than strain B. Heritability estimates obtained from the full-sib and maternal half-sib analysis ranged from medium to high for the two strains (0.24-0.96). The maternal half sib estimates were higher (0.40-0.96) than the estimates obtained from full sibs (0.24- 0.48). Genetic and phenotypic correlations obtained for both strains were positive and similar regardless of method of estimation. Genetic correlations between EGGSET and PFERT were low in strain A using both full-sib and maternal half-sib analyses (0.09-0.14). Phenotypic correlations between EGGSET and PFERT, PHATCH and PHATCHBL were also low in both strains and regardless of method of analyses. Moderate to high heritability estimates suggest that genetic improvement can be obtained by selection of these reproductive traits. The full-sib analysis for estimating heritability will be preferred since it is assumed that only additive genetic variance contributes to the covariance between family members.


1982 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Guirgis ◽  
E. A. Afifi ◽  
E. S. E. Galal

SUMMARYA study using 1150 lambs to estimate genetic and phenotypic parameters of some weight and fleece traits was carried out on coarse-wool Barki sheep. The weight traits were birth, weaning, yearling weights and daily gains whereas fleece traits included kemp score, staple length and greasy-fleece weight.Heritability estimates of weight traits were within the range 0·25–0·30. Those of fleece traits were 0·16, 0·21 and 0·43. The repeatability estimates of fleece traits were 0·18, 0·38 and 0·53 for staple length, greasy-fleece weight and kemp score respectively.Phenotypic correlations between body weight and fleece traits were mostly positive. Genetic correlations between greasy-fleece weight and body weights were mostly positive and of medium values. Those between kemp score and body weights were mostly negative, ranging from medium-high to high.


1986 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. R. BATRA ◽  
A. J. LEE ◽  
A. J. McALLISTER

The relationships between reproduction traits, body weight and milk yield were investigated using data from 1611 heifers and 733 cows from two lines of the National Cooperative Dairy Cattle Breeding Project. The data were analyzed separately for heifers and cows within lines using a mixed linear model containing fixed effects for station, year of birth, season of birth and random effect of sires. Heritability estimates and genetic correlations were estimated by a paternal half-sib analysis. Heritability estimates for heifer and cow reproduction traits ranged between 0 and 26% while those of body weights at calving and 112 d postpartum and milk yield ranged from 24 to 43%. Heifers with difficult calving had a higher incidence of retained placenta than those with normal calving. Phenotypic correlations between heifer reproduction traits and milk yield during first lactation were small. High milk production in cows was associated with longer calving interval. Phenotypic correlations between heifer's and cow's reproduction traits were small. Difficult calving in heifers impairs reproductive performance after calving resulting in greater number of days from calving to first and last breeding and leading to a longer calving interval. Key words: Reproduction traits, heifers, cows, milk yield, dairy cattle


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe M. W. Hickmann ◽  
José Braccini Neto ◽  
Luke M. Kramer ◽  
Yijian Huang ◽  
Kent A. Gray ◽  
...  

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is historically the most economically important swine disease worldwide that severely affects the reproductive performance of sows. However, little is still known about the genetic basis of reproductive performance in purebred herds during a PRRS outbreak through the comparison of maternal and terminal breeds. Thus, the objective of this work was to explore the host genetics of response to PRRS in purebred sows from two breeds. Reproductive data included 2546 Duroc and 2522 Landrace litters from 894 and 813 purebred sows, respectively, which had high-density genotype data available (29,799 single nucleotide polymorphisms; SNPs). The data were split into pre-PRRS, PRRS, and post-PRRS phases based on standardized farrow-year-week estimates. Heritability estimates for reproductive traits were low to moderate (≤0.20) for Duroc and Landrace across PRRS phases. On the other hand, genetic correlations of reproductive traits between PRRS phases were overall moderate to high for both breeds. Several associations between MARC0034894, a candidate SNP for response to PRRS, with reproductive performance were identified (P-value &lt; 0.05). Genomic analyses detected few QTL for reproductive performance across all phases, most explaining a small percentage of the additive genetic variance (≤8.2%, averaging 2.1%), indicating that these traits are highly polygenic. None of the identified QTL within a breed and trait overlapped between PRRS phases. Overall, our results indicate that Duroc sows are phenotypically more resilient to PRRS than Landrace sows, with a similar return to PRRS-free performance between breeds for most reproductive traits. Genomic prediction results indicate that genomic selection for improved reproductive performance under a PRRS outbreak is possible, especially in Landrace sows, by training markers using data from PRRS-challenged sows. On the other hand, the high genetic correlations with reproductive traits between PRRS phases suggest that selection for improved reproductive performance in a clean environment could improve performance during PRRS, but with limited efficiency due to their low heritability estimates. Thus, we hypothesize that an indicator trait that could be indirectly selected to increase the response to selection for these traits would be desirable and would also improve the reproductive performance of sows during a PRRS outbreak.


2007 ◽  
Vol 58 (9) ◽  
pp. 921 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Asadi Fozi ◽  
J. H. J. Van der Werf ◽  
A. A. Swan

Genetic parameters for skin follicle traits, wool traits, body weight, and number of lambs weaned per ewe joined were estimated for 5108 10-month-old Australian fine-wool Merinos born between 1990 and 1996. These animals were descended from 261 sires and 2508 dams. The skin follicle number index that is based on skin surface area, and primary, secondary, or total follicle density were introduced as possible early-age selection criteria estimated at 6 months of age. Heritability estimates for total, secondary, and primary follicle number index were 0.45 ± 0.04, 0.46 ± 0.04, and 0.38 ± 0.04, respectively. The genetic correlations of total follicle number index with clean fleece weight, mean fibre diameter, staple strength, coefficient of variation of fibre diameter, body weight, and number of lambs weaned were 0.16, –0.67, 0.00, 0.03, 0.22, and 0.22, respectively. Responses to selection on indices including and excluding follicle traits were calculated based on the genetic parameters estimated, and with annual responses calculated using an optimised age structure. On average, 10% greater response was predicted when total follicle number index was used as an additional selection criterion in different micron premium scenarios. In comparison, skin follicle density had a smaller effect on genetic improvement. The extra response was ~1%. Similar index responses were obtained when total follicle number index was used as a replacement selection criterion for clean fleece weight, mean fibre diameter, and coefficient of variation of fibre diameter for breeding objectives with low emphasis on fibre diameter. In objectives with high emphasis on fibre diameter, unfavourable correlated responses in staple strength and CV of fibre diameter limited the effectiveness of using total follicle number index as a selection criterion. Although the use of total follicle number index as an additional selection criterion can be favourable for some breeding objectives, measuring this trait is currently cost prohibitive to inclusion in Merino breeding programs.


1984 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Abouheif ◽  
C. LeRoy Johnson ◽  
M. P. Botkin

ABSTRACTData were collected from 600 newborn lambs, offspring of 354 Western crossbred ewes and 26 rams, to determine heritability estimates as well as phenotypic and genetic correlations between wool follicle variables using histological techniques. Breed of sire and sire within breed were significant sources of variation in total and secondary wool follicle populations and secondary:primary (S:P) ratio. Heritability estimates calculated by regression of offspring on dam were slightly higher than by paternal half-sib correlation or regression of offspring on sire. Expressed as an average of the three methods of calculation, the heritability estimate for S:P ratio was highest (0·69), followed by estimates for secondary, total and primary wool follicles (0·52, 0·46 and 0·36, respectively). These estimates are similar to the heritabilities of fleece weight, staple length and fibre diameter. Selection for increased density, provided an accurate measure is used, is suggested as an effective means for increasing fleece weight within grade.


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