Estimation of genetic parameters for growth traits in Omani sheep (original) (raw)
2018, Proceedings of the World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production
The present study aimed to estimate the heritability and genetic correlation for the growthrelated traits in Omani native sheep. Studied traits were birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), six-month weight (W6) and yearling weight (YW). For this study, records of growthrelated traits (i.e. body weight measured at different ages) were obtained from 2174 lambs reared at Wadi Quraiyat Livestock Research Station (WQLRS) from 2008 to 2016. This phenotypic data included 2174 records for BW, 2151 records for WW, 1792 records for six months' weight and 1442 records for YW. In addition to this phenotype data, pedigree information, dam age, year of production, sex and birth type were also recorded for each lamb. Heritability was estimated in a univariate mixed model using restricted maximum likelihood procedure, and genetic correlations were calculated using a bivariate mixed model. WOMBAT software was used for the statistical analysis. Direct and maternal heritabilities of BW, WW, W6 and YW were estimated to be 0.16 and 0.16, 0.20 and 0.20, 0.26 and 0.09, and 0.45 and 0.03 respectively. Genetic correlations among various growth traits were positive and ranged from 0.28 to 0.94. This study showed that direct heritabilities increased with age. Selection for improving one trait would improve other traits genetically because of the positive correlation.
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