Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:18:54.602Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Individual animal model estimates of genetic parameters for reproduction traits of landrace pigs performance tested in a commercial nucleus herd

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

R. E. Crump
Affiliation:
Roslin Institute(Edinburgh), Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PS
C. S. Haley
Affiliation:
Roslin Institute(Edinburgh), Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PS
R. Thompson
Affiliation:
Roslin Institute(Edinburgh), Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PS
J. Mercer
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT
Get access

Abstract

Individual animal model restricted maximum likelihood was used to estimate genetic parameters for number of piglets born, number born alive, total litter weight, average piglet weight and gestation length for a commercial Landrace population undergoing selection for performance test traits. Estimates of heritabilities and repeatabilities (around 0·1 and 0·2, respectively) for number born and number born alive are in line with other published results. Heritabilities around 0·2 and repeatabilities around 0·3 were observed for average piglet weight and gestation length, while for litter weight these values were between 0·11 and 0·15 for heritabilities and around 0·2 for repeatabilities. Estimates of common litter of birth effects and maternal genetic effects were very low across all traits analysed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Crump, R. E., Haley, C. S., Thompson, R. and Mercer, J. 1997. Individual animal model estimates of genetic parameters for performance test traits of male and female Landrace pigs tested in a commercial nucleus herd. Animal Science 65: 275283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falconer, D. S. 1981. Introduction to quantitative genetics, 2nd edition. Longman, London.Google Scholar
Graser, H.-U., Smith, S. P. and Tier, B. 1987. A derivative-free approach for estimating variance components in animal models by restricted maximum likelihood. Journal of Animal Science 64:13621370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gu, Y., Haley, C. S. and Thompson, R. 1989. Estimates of genetic and phenotypic parameters of litter traits from closed lines of pigs. Animal Production 49:477482.Google Scholar
Haley, C. S., Avalos, E. and Smith, C. 1988. Selection for litter size in the pig. Animal Breeding Abstracts 56: 317332.Google Scholar
Harvey, W. R. 1976. User‘s guide for LSML76. Ohio State University.Google Scholar
Hill, W. G. and Webb, A. J. 1982. Genetics of reproduction in the pig. In Control of pig reproduction, (ed. Cole, D. J. A. and Foxcroft, G. R.), pp. 541564. Butterworths, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerr, J. C. and Cameron, N. D. 1995. Reproductive performance of pigs selected for components of efficient lean growth. Animal Science 60: 281290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, K. 1988. DFREML a set of programs to estimate variance components under an individual animal model. Journal of Dairy Science 71: (suppl. 2) 3334 (abstr.).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, K. 1989. Restricted maximum likelihood to estimate variance components for animal models with several random effects using a derivative-free algorithm. Genetics, Selection, Evolution 21:317340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, R. E. and Robison, O. W. 1976. Effect of postnatal maternal environment on reproduction in pigs. Journal of Animal Science 43: 7177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, S. P. and Graser, H.-U. 1986. Estimating variance components in a class of mixed models by restricted maximum likelihood. Journal of Dairy Science 69:11561165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorensen, D. A. 1990. An animal model for selection for litter size in the Danish pig breeding program. Proceedings of the fourth world congress on genetics applied to livestock production, Edinburgh, vol. XV, pp. 435438.Google Scholar
Southwood, O. I. and Kennedy, B. W. 1990. Estimation of direct and maternal genetic variance for litter size in Canadian Yorkshire and Landrace swine using an animal model. Journal of Animal Science 68:18411847.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van der Steen, H. A. M. 1985. Maternal influence mediated by litter size during the suckling period on reproduction traits in pigs. Livestock Production Science 13:147158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willham, R. L. 1963. The covariance between relatives for characters composed of components contributed by related individuals. Biometrics 19:1827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar