Genetic parameters for bodyweight, wool, and disease resistance and reproduction traits in Merino sheep. 1. Description of traits, model comparison, variance components and their ratios

Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture

Volumn 48, Issue 9, 2008, Pages 1177-1185

  Huisman, A E ^a,b   Brown, D J ^a   Ball, A J ^a   Graser, H U ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND   (Australia)

^b Hypor   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BODY MASS; BREEDING; COMPARATIVE STUDY; DISEASE RESISTANCE; MATERNAL EFFECT; MODELING; PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT; REPRODUCTION; SHEEP; SKIN;

OVIS ARIES;

EID: 49449088979     PISSN: 08161089     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1071/EA08119     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. Akaike H (1973) Information theory and an extension of the maximum likelihood principle. In '2nd International Symposium on Information Theory'. (Eds BN Petrov, F Csaki) pp. 267-281. (Akademiai Kiado: Budapest)
2. Analla M, Serradilla JM (1998) Estimation of correlations between ewe litter size and maternal effects on lamb weights in Merino sheep. Genetics, Selection, Evolution. 30, 493-501. doi:10.1051/gse:19980506
3. Apps R, Brown DJ, Ball A, Banks R, Field S (2003) Genetic opportunities to improve lamb weaning rates in Merinos. Proceedings of the Association for Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 15, 249-252.
4. Brown DJ, Reverter A (2002) The use of weaning weight to adjust for pre-weaning environmental effects on body weight, fleece weight and fibre diameter in Merino hoggets. In 'Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production'. Comm. 12-05.
5. Brown DJ, Reverter A, Tier B (2001) Influence of environmental factors and trait representation on the genetic evaluation of reproductive traits in sheep. Proceedings of the Association for Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 14, 131-134.
6. Brown DJ, Ball A, Mortimer R, Oppenheimer M (2002) Incorporating subjectively assessed sheep and wool traits into genetic evaluations for Merino sheep. 1: Phenotypic variation and heritabilities. Wool Technology and Sheep Breeding 50, 373-377.
7. Brown DJ, Huisman AE, Swan AA, Graser H-U, Woolaston RR, Ball AJ, Atkins KD, Banks RB (2007) Genetic evaluation for the Australian sheep industry. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 17, 187-194.
8. Burnham KP, Anderson DR (1998) 'Model selection and inference: a practical information-theoretic approach.' (Springer-Verlag: New York)
9. Clarke BE, Brown DJ, Ball AJ (2003) Preliminary genetic parameters for live weight and ultrasound scan traits in Merinos. Proceedings of the Association for Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 15, 326-330.
10. Clement V, Bibe B, Verrier E, Elsen J-M, Manfredi E, Bouix J, Hanocq E (2001) Simulation analysis to test the influence of model adequacy and data structure on the estimation of genetic parameters for traits with direct and maternal effects. Genetics, Selection, Evolution. 33, 369-395. doi:10.1051/gse:2001123
11. Cloete SWP, Schoeman SJ, Coetzee J, Morris J de V (2001) Genetic variances for liveweight and fleece traits in Merino, Dohne Merino and South African Meat Merino sheep. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 41, 145-153. doi:10.1071/EA00030
12. Cloete SWP, Greeff JC, Lewer RP (2002) Direct and maternal genetic (co)variances for hogget liveweight and fleece traits in Western Australian Merino sheep. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 53, 271-279. doi:10.1071/AR00184
13. Coelli KA, Gilmour AR, Atkins KD (1998) Comparison of genetic covariance models for annual measurements of fleece weight and fibre diameter. Proceedings of the 6th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production 24, 31-34.
14. de Vries F, Hamann H, Distl O (2004) Genetic parameters of reproduction traits in German meat and milk sheep breeds. Zuechtungskunde 76, 208-220.
15. Duguma G, Cloete SWP, Schoeman SJ, Jordaan GF (2002) Genetic parameters of testicular measurements in Merino rams and the influence of scrotal circumference on total flock fertility. South African Journal of Animal Science 32, 76-82.
16. Gilmour AR, Gogel BJ, Cullis BR, Welham SJ, Thompson R (2002) 'ASReml User Guide Release 1.0.' (VSN International Ltd: Hemel Hempstead, UK)
17. Greeff JC, Karlsson LJE (1998) The genetic relationship between faecal consistency, faecal worm egg counts and wool traits in Merino sheep. Proceedings of the 6th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production 24, 63-66.
18. Greeff JC, Davidson R, Skerritt JW (2003) Genetic relationships between carcass quality and wool production traits in Australian Merino rams. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 15, 330-333.
19. Ingham VM, Ponzoni RW, Gilmour AR, Pitchford WS (2003) Genetic parameters for weight, fat and eye muscle depth in South Australian Merino sheep. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 15, 322-325.
20. Lee GJ, Atkins KD, Mortimer SI (1995) Variation between Merino ewes in pasture intake 2. Within-flock genetic parameters for intake and some production traits. Livestock Production Science 41, 143-150. doi:10.1016/0301-6226(94)00058-F
21. Lee GJ, Atkins KD, Swan AA (2002) Pasture intake and digestability by young and non-breeding adult sheep: the extent of genetic variation and relationships with productivity. Livestock Production Science 73, 185-198. doi:10.1016/S0301-6226(01)00244-5
22. Lewer RP, Woolaston RR, Howe RR (1994) Studies on Western Australian Merino Sheep. II. Genetic and Phenotypic parameter estimates for objectively measured traits on ram and ewe hoggets using different model types. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 45, 829-840. doi:10.1071/AR9940829
23. Maniatis N, Pollot GE (2003) The impact of data structure on genetic (co)variance components of early growth in sheep, estimated using an animal model with maternal effects. Journal of Animal Science 81, 101-108.
24. Mortimer SI, Atkins KD (1989) Genetic evaluation of production traits between and within flocks of Merino sheep. I Hogget fleece weights, body weight and wool quality. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 40, 433-443. doi:10.1071/AR9890433
25. Mortimer SI, Atkins KD (1994) Direct additive and maternal genetic effects on wool production of Merino sheep. Proceedings of the 5th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production 18, 63-66.
26. Nagy I, Solkner J, Komlosi I, Safar L (1999) Genetic parameters of production and fertility traits in Hungarian Merino sheep. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 116, 399-413. doi:10.1046/j.1439-0388.1999. 00204.x
27. Olivier WJ, Snyman MA, van Wyk JB, Erasmus GJ (1998) Genetic parameter estimates for fitness traits in South African Merino sheep. Livestock Production Science 56, 71-77. doi:10.1016/S0301-6226(98) 00131-6
28. Pollot GE, Greeff JC (2004) Genetic relationships between faecal egg count and production traits in commercial Merino sheep flocks. Animal Science (Penicuik, Scotland) 79, 21-32.
29. Pollott GE, Karlsson LJE, Eady S, Greeff JC (2004) Genetic parameters for indicators of host resistance to parasites from weaning to hogget age in Merino sheep. Journal of Animal Science 82, 2852-2864.
30. Safari E, Fogarty NM, Gilmour AR, Atkins KD, Mortimer SI, Swan AA, Brien FD, Greeff JC, van der Werf JHJ (2007) Across population genetic parameters for wool, growth, and reproduction traits in Australian Merino sheep. 2. Estimates of heritability and variance components. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 58, 177-184.
31. Schwarz G (1978) Estimating the dimension of a model. Annals of Statistics 6, 461-464. doi:10.1214/aos/1176344136
32. Snyman MA, Olivier JJ, Olivier WJ (1996) Variance components and genetic parameters for body weight and fleece traits of Merino sheep in an arid environment. South African Journal of Animal Science 26, 11-14.
33. Swan AA, Hickson JD (1994) Maternal effects in Australian Merinos. Proceedings of the 5th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production 18, 143-146.
34. Swan AA, Lax J, Purvis IW (1995) Genetic variation in objectively measured wool traits in CSIRO's fine wool flock. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 11, 516-520.
35. Vaez Torshizi R, Nicholas FW, Raadsma HW (1996) REML estimates of variance and covariance components for production traits in Australian Merino sheep, using an animal model 1. Body weight from birth to 22 months. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 47, 1235-1249. doi:10.1071/AR9961235
36. van Wyk J, Erasmus G, Olivier J (1994) Variance component estimates and response to selection on BLUP of breeding values of sheep. Proceedings of the 5th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production 18, 31-34.
37. Wuliji T, Dodds KG, Land JTJ, Andrews RN, Turner PR (2001) Selection for ultrafine Merino sheep in New Zealand: heritability, phenotypic and genetic correlations of live weight, fleece weight and wool characteristics in yearlings. Animal Science (Penicuik, Scotland) 72, 241-250.