• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1678-1684
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• 2006

The objectives of this study were to estimate genetic parameters and sire breeding values for average daily gain (ADG) and carcass traits using sire-maternal grandsire model with REML approach, sire model with REML approach, sire model without relationships among sires and with REML and ANOVA approach, and to investigate advantages and disadvantages of these methods. Data were collected from 42,325 Japanese Black steers and heifers finished and slaughtered from 1991 to 2004. Traits analyzed in this study were average daily gain (ADG) during the fattening period, live weight at slaughter (LW), cold carcass weight (CW), estimated lean yield percentage (LYE), longissimus muscle area (LMA), subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT), rib thickness (RT), and marbling score (BMS). Bivariate analyses were also performed to obtain genetic and phenotypic correlation coefficients among traits. Estimated breeding values were obtained from each model, and simple and rank correlations among breeding values from each model were calculated. Estimates of heritability using the four models ranged from 0.25 to 0.31 in ADG, from 0.21 to 0.24 in LW, from 0.23 to 0.27 in CW, from 0.10 to 0.17 in DP, from 0.40 to 0.42 in LYE, from 0.19 to 0.31 in LMA, from 0.31 to 0.34 in SFT, from 0.26 to 0.33 in RT, and from 0.18 to 0.44 in BMS. The differences in heritability estimates using the four models seemed to be feasible in ADG, CW, DP, LMA, RT, and BMS. Genetic correlation coefficients of ADG with CW, SFT, RT and BMS were moderate to high and positive while the genetic correlation coefficients between ADG and LYE was low and negative. Correlation coefficients of BMS with SFT were negligible for both genetic and phenotypic correlations. The correlations of estimates evaluated from sire models with those from sire-maternal grandsire model were not large enough to convincing that breeding values using a sire model were corresponding to those using a sire-maternal grand sire model. If information of maternal grand sires are not available, the sire model with incomplete pedigree information included only sire of sire (Model 2) is optimal among the sire models evaluated in this study.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.1196-1200
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• 2000

First lactation records of 683 Murrah buffaloes maintained at National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, were used for comparing the sire evaluation for age at first calving, first lactation 305-day or less milk yield and first service period. The sires were evaluated using Simple daughters average, Contemporary comparison, Least-squares and BLUP methods. The BLUP evaluations were obtained under single-, two- and three-trait individual animal models. The results revealed that for taking a decision regarding the method of sire evaluation to be used for selecting sires with high breeding values, criteria of the rank correlation could be misleading and comparison of the selected sires is likely to give a veritable picture. The Best Linear Unbiased Prediction method under multi-trait animal model incorporating first lactation milk yield with first service period as a covariable and age at first calving in the model was found to be more efficient and accurate for sire selection in Murrah buffaloes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1225-1228
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• 2006

A total of 1,367 first lactation records of daughters of 81 sires, having 5 or more progeny were used to evaluate sires by 3 different methods viz., least squares (LS), best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) and derivative free restricted maximum likelihood (DFREML) method. The highest and lowest overall average breeding value of sires for first lactation 305 days or less milk yield was obtained by BLUP (1,520.72 kg) and LS method (1,502.22 kg), respectively. The accuracy, efficiency and stability of different sire evaluation methods were compared to judge their effectiveness. The error variance of DFREML method was lowest ($191,112kg^2$) and its coefficient of determination of fitting the model was highest (33.39%) revealing that this method of sire evaluation was most efficient and accurate as compared to other methods. However, the BLUP method was most stable amongst all the methods having coefficient of variation (%) very near to unadjusted data (18.72% versus 19.89%). The higher rank correlations (0.7979 to 0.9568) between different sire evaluation methods indicated that there was higher degree of similarity of ranking sires by different methods ranging from about 80 to 96 percent. However, the DFREML method seemed to be the most effective sire evaluation method as compared to other methods for the present set of data.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1232-1236
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• 2002

Direct and service sire genetic parameters for total number of pigs born (TNB), number of pigs born alive (NBA), total pig weight at birth (TWB), and average pig birth weight (ABW) were estimated by DF-REML under a multiple trait animal model. Data on 3,078 litters of the Yorkshire from Jan, 1975 to Dec, 1998 at National Livestock Research Institute were obtained. The animal model included fixed contemporary group effects and random additive direct, service sire, and residual effects. Additive genetic relationships among animals were included. A separate relationship matrix for service sires and their sire was also included. Additive direct heritability estimates for TNB, NBA, TWB, and ABW were 0.19, 0.18, 0.25 and 0.39, respectively. Service sire heritability estimates for TNB, NBA, TWB, and ABW were 0.02, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.01, respectively. The genetic and phenotypic correlations of TNB with NBA estimated in this study were 0.81 and 0.81, respectively, and the genetic and phenotypic correlations of TNB with TWB estimated were 0.82 and 0.76, respectively. Results indicate that service sires account for 1 to 2% of the total variation for TNB, NBA, TWB, and ABW. Further investigation is needed to determine whether the service sire effect is primarily genetic or environmental.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.441-444
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• 1998

The negative direct-maternal genetic correlation $(r_{dm})$ for weaning weight is inflated when data are analyzed with model ignoring sire-by-year interactions (SY). An analytical study investigating the consequences of ignoring SY was undertaken. The inflation of negative correlation could be due to a functional relationship of design matrices for additive direct and maternal genetic effects to that for sire effects within which SY effects were nested. It was proven that the maternal genetic variance was inflated by the amount of reduction for sire variance; the direct genetic variance was inflated by four times the change for maternal genetic variance; and the direct-maternal genetic covariance was deflated by twice the change for maternal genetic variance. The findings were agreed to the results in previous studies.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.303-310
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• 2015

The study was conducted to analyze the genetic parameters of somatic cell score (SCS) of Holstein cows, which is an important indicator to udder health. Test-day records of somatic cell counts (SCC) of 305-day lactation design from first to fifth lactations were collected on Holsteins in Korea during 2000 to 2012. Records of animals within 18 to 42 months, 30 to 54 months, 42 to 66 months, 54 to 78 months, and 66 to 90 months of age at the first, second, third, fourth and fifth parities were analyzed, respectively. Somatic cell scores were calculated, and adjusted for lactation production stages by Wilmink's function. Lactation averages of SCS ($LSCS_1$ through $LSCS_5$) were derived by further adjustments of each test-day SCS for five age groups in particular lactations. Two datasets were prepared through restrictions on number of sires/herd and dams/herd, progenies/sire, and number of parities/cow to reduce data size and attain better relationships among animals. All LSCS traits were treated as individual trait and, analyzed through multiple-trait sire models and single trait animal models via VCE 6.0 software package. Herd-year was fitted as a random effect. Age at calving was regressed as a fixed covariate. The mean LSCS of five lactations were between 3.507 and 4.322 that corresponded to a SCC range between 71,000 and 125,000 cells/mL; with coefficient of variation from 28.2% to 29.9%. Heritability estimates from sire models were within the range of 0.10 to 0.16 for all LSCS. Heritability was the highest at lactation 2 from both datasets (0.14/0.16) and lowest at lactation 5 (0.11/0.10) using sire model. Heritabilities from single trait animal model analyses were slightly higher than sire models. Genetic correlations between LSCS traits were strong (0.62 to 0.99). Very strong associations (0.96 to 0.99) were present between successive records of later lactations. Phenotypic correlations were relatively weaker (<0.55). All correlations became weaker at distant lactations. The estimated breeding values (EBVs) of LSCS traits were somewhat similar over the years for a particular lactation, but increased with lactation number increment. The lowest EBV in first lactation indicated that selection for SCS (mastitis resistance) might be better with later lactation records. It is expected that results obtained from these multi-trait lactation model analyses, being the first large scale SCS data analysis in Korea, would create a good starting step for application of advanced statistical tools for future genomic studies focusing on selection for mastitis resistance in Holsteins of Korea.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1225-1233
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• 2017

Objective: Calving ease (CE) is a complex reproductive trait of economic importance in dairy cattle. This study was aimed to investigate the genetic merits of CE for Holsteins in Korea. Methods: A total of 297,614 field records of CE, from 2000 to 2015, from first parity Holstein heifers were recorded initially. After necessary data pruning such as age at first calving (18 to 42 mo), gestation length, and presence of sire information, final datasets for CE consisted of 147,526 and 132,080 records for service sire calving ease (SCE) and daughter calving ease (DCE) evaluations, respectively. The CE categories were ordered and scores ranged from CE1 to CE5 (CE1, easy; CE2, slight assistance; CE3, moderate assistance; CE4, difficult calving; CE5, extreme difficulty calving). A linear transformation of CE score was obtained on each category using Snell procedure, and a scaling factor was applied to attain the spread between 0 (CE5) and 100% (CE1). A sire-maternal grandsire model analysis was performed using ASREML 3.0 software package. Results: The estimated direct heritability ($h^2$) from SCE and DCE evaluations were $0.11{\pm}0.01$ and $0.08{\pm}0.01$, respectively. Maternal $h^2$ estimates were $0.05{\pm}0.02$ and $0.04{\pm}0.01$ from SCE and DCE approaches, respectively. Estimates of genetic correlations between direct and maternal genetic components were $-0.68{\pm}0.09$ (SCE) and $-0.71{\pm}0.09$ (DCE). The average direct genetic effect increased over time, whereas average maternal effect was low and consistent. The estimated direct predicted transmitting ability (PTA) was desirable and increasing over time, but the maternal PTA was undesirable and decreasing. Conclusion: The evidence on sufficient genetic variances in this study could reflect a possible selection improvement over time regarding ease of calving. It is expected that the estimated genetic parameters could be a valuable resource to formulate sire selection and breeding plans which would be directed towards the reduction of calving difficulty in Korean Holsteins.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.729-732
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• 2000

Weight records from birth to calving and calving scores of 407 two-year old heifers and weights of their offspring from birth to one year of age were used to study the effects of sire birth weight on maternal traits of their female progeny. The heifers (G1) were the progeny of 81 sires (G0) and were classified into three classes based on their sires' birth weights (High, Medium and Low). The heifers were from three distinct breed-groups and were mated to bulls with medium birth weights within each breed-group to produce the second generation (G2). The data were analyzed using a covariance model. The female progeny of high birth-weight sires were heavier from birth to calving than those sired by medium and low birth-weight bulls. The effect of sire birth weight on calving difficulty scores of their female progeny was not significant. Grand progeny (G2) of low birth-weight sires were lighter at birth than those from high birth-weight sires (p<0.05) but they did not differ significantly in weaning and yearling weights with the other two Grand progeny groups. The results indicated that using low birth weight sires would not result in an increase in the incidence of dystocia among their female progeny calving at two-year of age and would not have an adverse effect on weaning and yearling weights of their grand progeny.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.459-466
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• 2010

In this study, we suggest an objective standard in selection of candidate horse mates. Korea Racing Authority provided racing records and pedigree information of 44 sires and 954 dams. The datasets were used to predict Racing Indices represented by the averages of earnings earned by offspring for each dam and sire that indicate the racing performance of its domestic progeny. Proportion of wins and second places to the number of taken races and the mean of distances for the won races of a sire were significant factors in linear model with minimum prediction errors. For dam, those factors were the average of earned money per race, number of outstanding broodmares in pedigree, and the comparable index which indicates the relative affinity with its mate. We can use the resultant model for a horse mate by choosing one of the candidates with the largest predicted value for hypothetical offspring.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.5-8
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• 1999

Weight records from birth to calving and calving scores of 407 two-year old heifers and weights of their offspring from birth to one year of age were used to study the effects of sire birth weight on maternal traits of their female progeny. The heifers ($G_1$) were Ihe progeny of 81 sires ($G_0$) and were classified into three classes based on their sires' birth weights (High, Medium and Low). The heifers were from three distinct breed-groups and were mated to bulls with medium birth weights within each breed-group to produce the second generation ($G_2$). The data were analyzed using a covariance model. The female progeny of high birth-weight sires were heavier from birth to calving than those sired by medium and low birth-weight bulls. The effect of sire birth weight on calving difficulty scores of their female progeny was not significant. Grand progeny (G2) of low birth-weight sires were lighter at birth than those from high birth-weight sires (p < 0.05) but they did not differ significantly in weaning and yearling weights from the other two Grand progeny groups. The results indicated that using low birth weight sires would not result in an increase in the incidence of dystocia among their female progeny calving at two-year of age and would not have an adverse effect On weaning and yearling weights of their grand progeny.