Environmental effects and heritibility for growth traits in Sardo Negro cattle from Mexico
2007
Information on Sardo Negro cattle obtained from 1997 to 2005, from
breeding herds, from the Mexican Association of Zebu Breeders,
localized in herds of Mexico was used. The objectives of the study were
to evaluate the effect of several environmental factors on birth weight
(BW), weight adjusted to 205 (W205), 365 (W365), and 550 days of age
(W550), and pre-weaning daily weight gain (DWG) and to estimate
heritability (h2) for those traits. The statistical models included the
fixed effects of herd, year and season of birth (dry and rainy) and sex
of the calf (male or female). The model to estimate the h2 included the
fixed effect of contemporary group (herd-year-season-sex) and the
direct additive random effect. Analyses were carried out using general
linear models and multiple traits derivative-free restricted maximum
likelihood procedures. Means for BW, W205, W365, W550, and DWG were
32.9 ± 1.5, 185.1 ± 34.8, 281.4 ± 50.1, 384.9 ±
58.5 y 0.742 ± 0.170 kg, respectively. Heritability estimates for
BW, W205, W365, W550, and DWG were 0.00 ± 0.08, 0.27 ± 0.14,
0.26 ± 0.13, 0.12 ± 0.19 y 0.27 ± 0.14, respectively.
The results of this study show that environmental factors are important
sources of variation for W205, W365, and DWG. The high h2 estimates
indicates that it is possible to improve the growth of Sardo Negro
cattle by selection.
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