• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1226-1234
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• 2015

The development of effective genetic evaluations and selection of sires requires accurate estimates of genetic parameters for all economically important traits in the breeding goal. The main objective of this study was to assess the relative performance of the traditional lactation average model (LAM) against the random regression test-day model (RRM) in the estimation of genetic parameters and prediction of breeding values for Holstein Friesian herds in Ethiopia. The data used consisted of 6,500 test-day (TD) records from 800 first-lactation Holstein Friesian cows that calved between 1997 and 2013. Co-variance components were estimated using the average information restricted maximum likelihood method under single trait animal model. The estimate of heritability for first-lactation milk yield was 0.30 from LAM whilst estimates from the RRM model ranged from 0.17 to 0.29 for the different stages of lactation. Genetic correlations between different TDs in first-lactation Holstein Friesian ranged from 0.37 to 0.99. The observed genetic correlation was less than unity between milk yields at different TDs, which indicated that the assumption of LAM may not be optimal for accurate evaluation of the genetic merit of animals. A close look at estimated breeding values from both models showed that RRM had higher standard deviation compared to LAM indicating that the TD model makes efficient utilization of TD information. Correlations of breeding values between models ranged from 0.90 to 0.96 for different group of sires and cows and marked re-rankings were observed in top sires and cows in moving from the traditional LAM to RRM evaluations.

• 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.18 no.8
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• pp.1075-1079
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• 2005

The main objective of this study is to examine genetic changes in growth rate and carcass composition traits in group housed, ad libitum fed pigs, from lines of Large White divergently selected over four years for high and low post-weaning daily gain on a fixed but restricted ration. Genetic parameters for production and carcass traits were also estimated by using average information-restricted maximum likelihood applied to a multivariate individual animal model. All analyses were carried out on 1,728 records of group housed ad libitum fed pigs, and include a full pedigree of 5,324 animals. Estimates of heritability (standard errors in parentheses) were 0.11 (0.04) for lifetime daily liveweight gain (LDG), 0.13 (0.04) for daily carcass weight gain (CDG) and 0.28 (0.06) for carcass backfat (CFT). Genetic correlations between LDG and CDG were highly positive and between LDG and CFT negative, suggesting that selection for lifetime daily gain under commercial conditions of group housing with ad libitum feeding would result in favourable improvement in carcass traits. CFT showed negative genetic correlations with CDG. Correlated genetic responses evaluated as estimated breeding values (EBVs) were obtained from a multivariate animal model-best linear unbiased prediction analysis. After four years of divergent selection for 6 week post-weaning growth rate on restricted feeding, pigs performance tested on ad libitum feeding in groups exhibited changes in EBVs of 6.77 and -9.93 (g/d) for LDG, 4.25 and -7.08 (g/d) for CDG, and -1.42 and 1.55 (mm) for CFT, in the high and low lines, respectively. It is concluded that selection for growth rate on restricted feeding would significantly improve genetic performance and carcass composition of their descendants when group housed and ad libitum fed as is a common commercial practice.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.501-508
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• 2013

This study was conducted to determine genetic correlations among carcass traits measured by ultrasound and real carcass measurements and to estimate indirect selection responses for real carcass traits based on ultrasound measurements in Hanwoo cows. To accomplish this, 22,080 ultrasound measurement records from 17,926 cows collected from 2001 to 2012 and 11,907 carcass records obtained from fattened cattle from 2008 to 2012 were used. Genetic parameters were estimated based on eye muscle area (EMA), backfat thickness (BF) and marbling score (MS) measured by ultrasound-scanning of live cows and using the official technique on chilled bovine half-carcasses after slaughtering. Heritability and genetic correlation for carcass traits were estimated using a mixed model equation that consisted of environmental effects as fixed parameters and additive genetic effects and residual effects as random parameters, assuming that traits were different between ultrasound and carcass measurements. This statistical method was applied to the average information restricted maximum likelihood method. The heritability of EMA, BF and MS measured by ultrasound were 0.33, 0.61 and 0.46, respectively, while the heritability estimates of the corresponding traits based on carcass measurements were 0.29, 0.40 and 0.38, respectively and the genetic correlation between ultrasound and carcass traits for EMA, BF and MS were 0.41, 0.78 and 0.67, respectively. The genetic correlation between ultrasound and carcass traits was highly positive. Additionally, the selection response for marbling score was estimated to be 0.42 per generation if the cows were selected based on the ultrasound scan marbling score with an assumed selection intensity of 0.8. Overall, these results indicate that the ultrasound scan technique would be applicable to judging cow selection for genetically improved meat quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.1217-1223
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• 2020

Objective: Eggshells with a uniform color and intensity are important for egg production because many consumers assess the quality of an egg according to the shell color. In the present study, we evaluated the influence of dominant effects on the variations in eggshell color after 32 weeks in a crossbred population. Methods: This study was conducted using 7,878 eggshell records from 2,626 hens. Heritability was estimated using a univariate animal model, which included inbreeding coefficients as a fixed effect and animal additive genetic, dominant genetic, and residuals as random effects. Genetic correlations were obtained using a bivariate animal model. The optimal diagnostic criteria identified in this study were: L^🟉 value (lightness) using a dominance model, and a^🟉 (redness), and b^🟉 (yellowness) value using an additive model. Results: The estimated heritabilities were 0.65 for shell lightness, 0.42 for redness, and 0.60 for yellowness. The dominance heritability was 0.23 for lightness. The estimated genetic correlations were 0.61 between lightness and redness, -0.84 between lightness and yellowness, and -0.39 between redness and yellowness. Conclusion: These results indicate that dominant genetic effects could help to explain the phenotypic variance in eggshell color, especially based on data from blue-shelled chickens. Considering the dominant genetic variation identified for shell color, this variation should be employed to produce blue eggs for commercial purposes using a planned mating system.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.759-766
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• 2006

This study was conducted to investigate the genetic correlations among the traits used to select young bulls and proven bulls in Hanwoo Performance and Progeny Test Program in Korea. For the estimation of heritabilities and correlations among the growth traits of bulls and carcass traits of progeny steers, 2,532 records of performance tested bull calves and 1,819 records of progeny tested steers were collected from Livestock Improvement Main Center (LIMC), National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF). Fixed effects of mixed model for each traits were selected by using stepwise regression analysis and prior values of variance components were estimated by MTDFREML. The prior values of variance components were estimated with pairwise 2 traits model followed by single trait analysis. The estimated heritability of backfat thickness(BF), dressing percentage(DP), loin-eye muscle area(LMA), marbling score(MS) and weight at 12 months(WT12) was 0.51, 0.32, 0.27, 0.33, 0.50 and 0.26, respectively. Genetic correlation of WT12 of bull calves with backfat thickness, carcass weight and loin-eye muscle area of steers was positive correlation as 0.05, 0.35 and 0.21, respectively. However genetic correlation of WT12 with DP and MS showed negative correlation as 󰠏0.09 and 󰠏0.27, respectively and these negative genetic correlations implies that bulls that may be superior in carcass traits can be lost at the first step of selection and current selection method should be modified to solve this problem.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2012

The experiment involved observations of 2,514 Holstein-Friesian cows to determine the effects of environmental factors (cow's age, calving season, weight and sex of calves, housing system) and genetic factors on gestation length in dairy cattle and the correlation between gestation length and other reproductive traits (calving ease, stillbirth rates and placental expulsion). Genetic parameters were estimated based on the sires of calved cows (indirect effect) and the sires of live-born calves (direct effect). The following factors were found to contribute to prolonged gestation: increasing cow's age, male fetuses and growing fetus weight. Optimal gestation length was determined in the range of 275-277 days based on calving ease and stillbirth rates. The heritability of gestation length was estimated at 0.201-0.210 by the direct effect and 0.055-0.073 by the indirect effect. The resulting genetic correlations suggest that the efforts to optimize (prolong) gestation length could exert an adverse influence on the breeding value of bulls by increasing perinatal mortality and calving difficulty. The standard errors of the investigated parameters were relatively high, suggesting that any attempts to modify gestation length for the purpose of improving calving ease and reducing stillbirth rates should be introduced with great caution.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.925-931
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• 2002

Gibbs sampling algorithms were implemented to the multi-trait threshold animal models with any combinations of multiple binary, ordered categorical, and linear traits and investigate the amount of bias on these models with two kinds of parameterization and algorithms for generating underlying liabilities. Statistical models which included additive genetic and residual effects as random and contemporary group effects as fixed were considered on the models using simulated data. The fully conditional posterior means of heritabilities and genetic (residual) correlations were calculated from 1,000 samples retained every 10th samples after 15,000 samples discarded as "burn-in" period. Under the models considered, several combinations of three traits with binary, multiple ordered categories, and continuous were analyzed. Five replicates were carried out. Estimates for heritabilities and genetic (residual) correlations as the posterior means were unbiased when underlying liabilities for a categorical trait were generated given by underlying liabilities of the other traits and threshold estimates were rescaled. Otherwise, when parameterizing threshold of zero and residual variance of one for binary traits, heritability estimates were inflated 7-10% upward. Genetic correlation estimates were biased upward if positively correlated and downward if negatively correlated when underling liabilities were generated without accounting for correlated traits on prior information. Residual correlation estimates were, consequently, much biased downward if positively correlated and upward if negatively correlated in that case. The more categorical trait had categories, the better mixing rate was shown.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.695-698
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• 2002

Performance data (from 1985 to 2000) of Jersey cattle imported from USA and maintained at Islamabad, Pakistan were evaluated. The purpose of this study was to assess the genetic merit of Jersey breed under Pakistani environment for further propagation. Cows with at least two calvings were considered for this study; records on 50 daughter-dam pairs were available on production and reproduction performance traits for genetic evaluation. The average age at first calving in parents was $25.2{\pm}2.4$ m as compared to $23.9{\pm}6.6$ m in progeny. Calving interval in parents and progeny was $416{\pm}74$ and $446{\pm}105$ d; lactation length $301{\pm}51$ and $325{\pm}73$ d; lactation milk yield $2,908{\pm}669$ and $2,707{\pm}903$ lit respectively. All these differences were found to be statistically significant except lactation length. The correlations between age at first calving and total lactation milk was -0.25, between calving interval and total lactation milk yield was 0.14, and between lactation length and total lactation milk yield was 0.79. The $h^2$ of these traits were low indicating important role of environment in expressing the genetic potential of animals. The S.E of $h^2$ of all the traits was high due to large variation in data.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.459-466
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• 2019

Objective: This study assessed the possible existence of genotype by environment interactions for milk, fat and protein yields in Holstein cattle raised in one of the most important milk production basins in Brazil. Methods: Changes in the genetic parameters and breeding values were evaluated for 57,967 animals from three distinct regions of southern Brazil, divided according to differences in climate. The genotype by environment interaction was determined by genetic correlations between regions, estimated by the restricted maximum likelihood, considering the animal model. Bull rankings were investigated to verify the ratio of coincident selected animals between regions for each trait. Results: The estimates of heritability coefficients were similar between two regions, but were lower in the third evaluated area, for all traits. Genetic correlations between regions were high, ranging from 0.91 to 0.99 for milk, fat and protein yields, representing the absence of a genotype by environment interaction for productive traits. The percentage of selection error between regions for the top 10% of animals ranged from 0.88% to 2.07% for milk yield, 0.99% to 2.46% for fat yield and 0.59% to 3.15% for protein yield. Conclusion: A slight change in genotype between areas was expected since no significant genotype by environment interactions were identified, facilitating the process of selecting Holstein cattle in southern Brazil.