Genetic and phenotypic parameter estimates for reproduction traits in indigenous Arsi-Bale goats

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate reproductive performances and estimate genetic parameters for reproduction traits in Arsi-Bale goats. A total of 792 kidding records collected from 2001 to 2007 were used. Parity of dam, year, season and type of kidding were investigated as fixed effects by PROC GLM of SAS. Derivative-Free Restricted Maximum Likelihood (DFREML) method was used to estimate genetic parameters by fitting four animal models. Parity of dam and year of kidding influenced (P < 0.05) all the traits. The overall means for age at first kidding (AFK), kidding interval (KI), litter size at birth (LSB), litter size at weaning (LSW), litter weight at birth (LWB), litter weight at weaning (LWW), abortion and dystocia were 574.9 ± 8.3 days, 280.0 ± 13.7 days, 1.6 ± 0.03, 1.37 ± 0.03, 3.7 ± 0.08 kg, 9.11 ± 0.38 kg, 3.8% and 0.13%, respectively. The estimates of direct additive heritability for the traits, except for abortion and dystocia, under the best model (direct animal for AFK and repeatability model for other traits) were 0.245 ± 0.19, 0.060 ± 0.08, 0.074 ± 0.05, 0.006 ± 0.05, 0.125 ± 0.05, 0.053 ± 0.07, respectively, while the corresponding permanent environmental effects were 0.00 ± 0.00, 0.07 ± 0.07, 0.08 ± 0.05, 0.172 ± 0.06, 0.03 ± 0.04 and 0.07 ± 0.05, respectively. Repeatability estimates for KI, LSB, LSW, LWB and LWW were 0.13, 0.15, 0.18, 0.16 and 0.12, respectively. Genetic correlations between reproductive traits vary from medium to high. Arsi-Bale goats have good reproductive performance with low incidence of reproductive disorder. Except for AFK, other traits have low estimates of heritabilities with high genetic correlation among the traits. Repeated measures of the traits are needed before deciding to keep or cull the animal.

Genetic Studies on Reproduction Performance of Raighar Goat in its Native Tract

“…The heritability estimate of age at first kidding was 0.276±0.119. This result is in close agreement with the findings of Haque et al (2013) in Black Bengal goats, Kebede et al [18] in indigenous Arsi-Bale goats of Ethiopia, Bariha et al (2008) in indigenous goats of Keonjhar and Rao et al (2002) in Ganjam goats. The heritability estimate of kidding interval in the present study was 0.256±0.176.…”

“…The heritability estimate of kidding interval in the present study was 0.256±0.176. Lower estimate of 0.06 and 0.14±0.96 was reported by Kebede et al (2012) in their study with indigenous Arsi-Bale goats and Bariha et al [4] in indigenous goats of Keonjhar district in Odisha, respectively.…”

Evaluation of animal models to explore the influence of maternal genetic and maternal permanent environment effect on reproductive performance of Jersey crossbred cattle

“…(2004) and Kebede et al. (2012) in Murrah buffalo and Arsi‐Bale goats, respectively. In our study, maternal genetic effects (m 2 ) for CI were significant, and maternal heritability of 0.20 in the preferred model was higher than the average of literature values.…”

Selection Criteria for Improving Fertility in Spanish Goat Breeds: Estimation of Genetic Parameters and Designing Selection Indices for Optimal Genetic Responses

“…Estimated r g among kidding intervals oscillated between 0.24 (Int12Kid-Int3toKid) and 0.71 (Int3toKid-IntAllKid) in Florida, and between 0.12 (Int12Kid-Int3toKid) and 0.82 (Int3toKid-IntAllKid) in the Payoya breed. Correlations between age at first kidding and kidding intervals in other studies were reported to be negative (−0.71 ± 0.27 in Anglo-Nubian goats [29]; −0.43 ± 0.11 in Arsi-Bale goats [30]) or positive (0.64 ± 0.01 in Saanen goats [29]. These values indicate that the magnitude and the sign of direct and indirect responses for selection for these traits will depend heavily on the choice of the selection criteria.…”