| publication name | Genetic and environmental trends for post-weaning body weights in New Zealand White and Z line rabbits using the animal model - 2002 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Iraqi M.M., Youssef Y.M.K., El-Raffa A.M.E., Khalil M. H. |
| year | 2002 |
| keywords | Rabbits, Body weights, Animal model approach, Heritability, Correlations, Breeding values, Genetic trend. |
| journal | 3rd International Conference on Rabbit Production in Hot Climates, 8-11 October 2002, Hurgada, Egypt, , |
| volume | 12 |
| issue | Issued in World Rabbit Sci. 2004, 12: 188 |
| pages | 89-101 |
| publisher | World Rabbit Science Association |
| Local/International | International |
| Paper Link | http://www.wrs.upv.es/files/congresses/12_3.pdf |
| Full paper | download |
| Supplementary materials | Not Available |
Abstract
Genetic and environmental trends were evaluated for post-weaning body weights of 20677 weaned rabbits of New Zealand White (NZW) and Z-line born between 1982 and 1996 from 1212 sires and 3168 dams. Multi-trait animal model was used for such evaluation taking into account body weights at 8 and 12 weeks of age. Heritability estimates for the two body weights in NZW were higher than those in Z-line; being 0.34 and 0.30 in NZW and 0.10 and 0.25 in Z-line at 8 and 12 weeks of age, respectively. Common litter effects were higher in Z-line (averaged 37.65%) than those in NZW (averaged 29.95%). All correlations between the two body weights were moderate orhigh; being 0.73 and 0.69 for genetic correlations, 0.60 and 0.64 for phenotypic correlations, 0.49 and 0.64 for common-litter correlations and 0.45 and 0.68 for environmental correlations in NZW and Zline rabbits, respectively. The ranges in predicted breeding values (PBV) for body weights at 8 and 12 weeks of age were 572 and 639 gram in NZW, while they were 216 and 449 gram in Z-line, respectively; i.e. wide variations in PBV of body weights between the two strains were in favor of Z-line rabbits. The accuracies ( raa$ ) of minimum and maximum estimates of PBV were mostly higher in NZW than those in Z-line for the two weights; ranging from 0.48 to 0.73 in NZW and 0.38 to 0.62 in Z-line. Genetic trends indicate that PBV were mostly positive in NZW and negative in Z-line over the whole period of the study. In NZW rabbits, the trend indicates that the plateau for the breeding values reached soon at the beginning years, while in Z-line the rates of change in breeding values were very low during the five years of the study. Plots of year-season trends indicate that environmental effects (i.e. seasonal-annual variations) play a large role in improvement of the two body weights in both lines.