• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.382-389
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• 2020

Objective: This study was conducted to test the efficiency of genomic selection for milk production traits in a Korean Holstein cattle population. Methods: A total of 506,481 milk production records from 293,855 animals (2,090 heads with single nucleotide polymorphism information) were used to estimate breeding value by single step best linear unbiased prediction. Results: The heritability estimates for milk, fat, and protein yields in the first parity were 0.28, 0.26, and 0.23, respectively. As the parity increased, the heritability decreased for all milk production traits. The estimated generation intervals of sire for the production of bulls (L_SB) and that for the production of cows (L_SC) were 7.9 and 8.1 years, respectively, and the estimated generation intervals of dams for the production of bulls (L_DB) and cows (L_DC) were 4.9 and 4.2 years, respectively. In the overall data set, the reliability of genomic estimated breeding value (GEBV) increased by 9% on average over that of estimated breeding value (EBV), and increased by 7% in cows with test records, about 4% in bulls with progeny records, and 13% in heifers without test records. The difference in the reliability between GEBV and EBV was especially significant for the data from young bulls, i.e. 17% on average for milk (39% vs 22%), fat (39% vs 22%), and protein (37% vs 22%) yields, respectively. When selected for the milk yield using GEBV, the genetic gain increased about 7.1% over the gain with the EBV in the cows with test records, and by 2.9% in bulls with progeny records, while the genetic gain increased by about 24.2% in heifers without test records and by 35% in young bulls without progeny records. Conclusion: More genetic gains can be expected through the use of GEBV than EBV, and genomic selection was more effective in the selection of young bulls and heifers without test records.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.600-603
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• 2009

Genetic and phenotypic parameter estimates for measurement traits were obtained from pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas at nine months old. For the growth-related traits among nine months old pacific oyster, heritabilities of shell length, shell height, shell width, total weight, body weight and shell weight were estimated as 0.4855, 0.5248, 0.0884, 0.7236, 0.7726 and 0.6957, respectively. Genetic correlations among the growth-related traits of pacific oyster at nines month old, shell length, shell height, shell width, total weight, body weight, shell weight were showing highly positive correlations. Breeding value on growth-related traits of pacific oyster at nine months old were estimated as shell length -7.044-11.870, shell height -11.380-18.370, shell width -1.234-2.831, total weight -8.339-17.140, body weight -1.813-3.507 and shell weight -4.422-8.837. The results show that there is quite substantial additive genetic variance for measurement traits in pacific oyster that can be exploited through selective breeding.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1404-1408
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• 2006

In order to investigate the genetic marker associated with economic performance in Hanwoo (Korean Brown Cattle), proteomic approach was used. Breeding values were estimated from performance tested steers. The top 20 and bottom 19 steers based on carcass weight (CW), eye muscle area (EMA), backfat thickness (BF) and marbling score (MS) evaluation for one progeny testing period was used. Meat samples dissected from longissimus dorsi muscles were taken from the slaughter house and analyzed for two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. A total of 102 significant spots out of total 146 on each gel were detected and compared with the reference gel (synthetic gel) to be evaluated. Four candidate spots for marbling score were identified: 205, 84, 204 and 198. The study confirmed the relationship between breeding values of economic traits of Hanwoo cattle and spot intensity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.511-514
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• 1999

Data pertaining to 1111 first lactation performance record of Karan Fries (Holstein-Friesian $\times$ Zebu) cows spread over a period of 21 years and sired by 72 bulls were used to examine the efficiency of sire indices for lactation milk production using auxiliary traits. First lactation length, first service period, first calving interval, first dry period and age at first calving were considered as auxiliary traits. The efficiency of this method was compared with simple daughter average index (D), contemporary comparison method (CC), least-square method (LSQ), simplified regressed least-squares method (SRLS) and best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) for lactation milk production. The relative efficiency of sire evaluation methods using one auxiliary trait was lower (24.2-32.8%) in comparison to CC method, the most efficient method observed in this study. Use of two auxiliary traits at a time did not further improve the efficiency. The auxiliary sire indices discriminate better among bulls as the range of breeding values were higher in these methods in comparison to conventional sire evaluation methods. The rank correlation between breeding values estimated using auxiliary traits were high (0.77-0.78) with CC method. The rank correlation among auxiliary sire indices ranged from 0.98 to 0.99, indicating similar ranking of sire for breeding values of milk production in all the auxiliary sire indices.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.363-367
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• 1998

This study has objectives of to estimate the genetic and phenotypic trend for growth in a closed herd of Landrace $\times$ desi crossbreds. The possibility of early selection of boars was also investigated in order to reduce generation interval and thus, to enhance response per year in selection programmes. The data originated from Livestock Production Research (Pigs), Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar (UP), India - a unit of All India Coordinated research Project on Pigs (AICRP on Pigs). Data consisted of 891 crossbred piglets, progeny of 29 boars. The piglets were born in 132 parities of 72 sows between 8 years from 1987 to 1994. Records on weight at birth, at 2 weeks interval upto 8 weeks of age (Wl, W2, ${\cdots}\;{\cdots}$ W8) and at 16th week (W16) were used in this investigation. BLLTP estimates of the sires were computed. Breeding value of each sire was estimated as twice of sire and sire group solutions. Phenotypic trend was estimated as regression of weight performance on year. Genetic trend was computed by estimating regression of breeding value of sires on time. Average body weights ranged from 0.92 kg (W1) to 18.95 kg (W16) and showed a continuous increase over age. Heritabilities of the weight at 4th and 6th week were medium (0.29 and 0.14). Rest of the weights were highly heritable. The product moment and rank, both correlations were high between breeding value for W6 and W16 (0.68 and 0.70). This shows that sire selection for W6 can be successfully implemented in order to achieve sufficient genetic improvement in growth. Phenotypic trend was positive at all ages. The phenotypic regression coefficient ranged from 0.02 kg at birth to 0.40 kg at 16 weeks. Genetic trend was also positive. The regression coefficients of average breeding value of sires on time showed a range of 1.471 kg (0.021 to 1.492 kg) for different weights. These coefficients were significant and higher than their corresponding phenotypic regression coefficient.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1217-1220
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• 2005

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR) analysis of 56 animals of four different genetic groups of dwarf cattle in Kerala was done as a single step analysis. Bandsharing (BS) values were calculated for animals of each group and between groups as an analytical tool to find out genetic variation among animals. The different factors affecting BS values were estimated using Harvey''s Least squares analysis. The effects of genetic group, Guanine-cytosine (GC) content of primer and gel on BS values were found significant. Bandsharing values of Kasargode-Highrange dwarf animals were significantly different from Vechur, Vatakara and their combinations. The Vechur, Vatakara and Vechur-Vatakara combinations were found to be more uniform (high BS value) compared with other combinations. The bandsharing value was lowest with primers of GC content 90% and highest with 80% GC content. The effect of gel on BS value points to the need of adjustments of gel factor for calculation of BS values.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.943-950
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• 2015

Heat stress has adverse effects on fertility of dairy animals. Decline in fertility is linearly associated with an increase in combination of both temperature and humidity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between temperature humidity index (THI) and the pregnancy rate of Murrah buffaloes in a subtropical climate. The effects of genetic and non-genetic factors viz., sire, parity, period of calving and age group at first calving were found non-significant on pregnancy rate. The effect of THI was found significant (p<0.001) on pregnancy rate of Murrah buffaloes calved for first time and overall pregnancy rate. The threshold THI affecting the pregnancy rate was identified as THI 75. The months from October to March showed THI<75 and considered as non heat stress zone (NHSZ), while months from April to September were determined as heat stress zone (HSZ) with $THI{\geq}75$. The lowest overall pregnancy rate (0.25) was obtained in July with THI 80.9, while the highest overall pregnancy rate (0.59) was found in November with THI 66.1. May and June were identified as critical heat stress zone (CHSZ) within the HSZ with maximum decline (-7%) in pregnancy rate with per unit increase in THI. The highest overall pregnancy rate was estimated as 0.45 in NHSZ with THI value 56.7 to 73.2. The pregnancy rate was found to have declined to 0.28 in HSZ with THI 73.5 to 83.7. However, the lowest pregnancy rate was estimated as 0.27 in CHSZ with THI value 80.3 to 81.6.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2021

Objective: The objectives of the current study were to study the main environmental factors affecting birth weight (BW) and weaning weight (WW), estimate variance components, genetic parameters and genetic trend and to evaluate the variability and relationships among breeding value of BW and WW using principal components analysis (PCA). Methods: A total of 16,370 records were collected from 8,271 buffalo calves. Genetic parameters and breeding values were estimated using a bivariate animal model which includes direct, maternal and permanent maternal effects. These estimates were standardized and used in PCA. Results: The direct heritability estimates were 0.06 and 0.41 for BW and WW, respectively whereas direct maternal heritability values were 0.03 and 0.14, respectively. Proportions of variance due to permanent environmental effects of dam were 0.455 and 0.280 for BW and WW respectively. The genetic correlation between BW and WWs was weak approaching zero, but the maternal correlation was 0.26. The first two principal components (PC1 and PC2) were estimated utilizing the standardized breeding values according to Kaiser method. The total variance explained by the first two PCs was 71.17% in which 45.91% and 25.25% were explained by PC1 and PC2, respectively. The direct breeding values of BW were related to PC2 but those of WW and maternal breeding values of BW and WWs were associated with PC1. Conclusion: The results of genetic parameters and PCA indicate that BW and WWs were not genetically correlated and improving growth traits of Egyptian buffaloes could be achieved using WW without any adverse effect by BW.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.279-284
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• 2022

This study was conducted to establish a genetic evaluation system applicable to general farms for improving cows raised on farms. The analysis used Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) and Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (GBLUP) for 619 cows raised in Gyeonggi-do Province and compared and analyzed the accuracy of the estimated breeding value according to four traits (carcass weight, loineye muscle area, back fat thickness, and marbling). In the case of the GBLUP method, the size of the reference population was divided into different four groups and analyzed. The analysis results confirmed that the accuracy of the breeding value of each trait increased as the size of the GBLUP reference population increased. Comparing the accuracy of the breeding values estimated using the BLUP and GBLUP methods, it was confirmed that when the breeding values were estimated using the GBLUP method, they increased by 0.10, 0.09, 0.09, and 0.11 for carcass weight, eye muscle area, back fat thickness, and marbling scores, respectively. Applying the GBLUP method to the evaluation and selection of cows can enable precise and accurate individual selection, while increasing the size of the reference population can make even more accurate individual selection possible, thus increasing selection efficiency.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1575-1580
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• 2018

Objective: This study was conducted to estimate the genetic parameters and breeding values of breast meat related traits of Pekin ducks. Selection response was also determined by using ultrasound breast muscle thickness (BMT) measurements in combination with bosom breadth (BB) and keel length (KL) values. Methods: The traits analyzed were breast meat weight (BMW), body weight (BW), breast meat percentage (BMP) and the three parameters of breast meat (BB, KL, and BMT). These measurements were derived from studying 15,781 Pekin ducks selected from 10 generations based on breast meat weight. Genetic parameters and breeding value were estimated for the analysis of the breeding process. Results: Estimated heritability of BMW and BMP were moderate (0.23 and 0.16, respectively), and heritability of BW was high (0.48). Other traits such as BB, KL, and BMT indicated moderate heritability ranging between 0.11 and 0.28. Significant phenotypic correlations of BMW with BW and BMP were discovered (p<0.05), and genetic correlations of BMW with BW and BMP were positive and high (0.83 and 0.66, respectively). It was noted that BMW had positive correlations with all the other traits. Generational average estimated breeding values of all traits increased substantially over the course of selection, which demonstrated that the ducks responded efficiently to increased breast meat yield after 10 generations of breeding. Conclusion: The results indicated that duck BMW had the potential to be increased through genetic selection with positive effects on BW and BMP. The ultrasound BMT, in combination with the measurement of BB and KL, is shown to be essential and effective in the process of high breast meat yield duck breeding.