Heritability of reproduetive traits in Asturiana de los Valles beef cattle breed

Abstract

SummaryHeritability was estimated for four reproduetive traits in the Asturiana de los Valles breed in order to evaluate the possibility of include this information in the breed's current improvement program. The estimations were done using an animal model except for calving ease score. For this last trait, a threshold model under a sire model was fitted, with the sire effect as the only random effect in the model besides the residual. Estimated heritabilities for calving interval age at first calving, gestation length, as dam traits, and calving ease were 0.12, 0.27, 0.15 and 0.42, respectively. The estimated heritability for calving interval and age at first calving could justify a sire selection program in the Asturiana de los Valles breed taking account their female offsprings' reproduetive characteristics. Heritability estimates for gestation length and calving ease suggested a close genetic relationship of these two traits and birth weight. Further research is needed to estimate the genetic (co)variances between these three traits to allow the use of this information in a breed improvement program to reduce dystocia without affecting preweaning growth traits.

Genetic relationships among calving ease, gestation length, and calf survival to weaning in the Asturiana de los Valles beef cattle breed1

“…Also, the estimate of heritability reported here for CSd (0.226) is approximately 2-fold those of 0.106 and 0.142 reported previously in the breed (Goyache et al, 2003) and also greater than recent estimates reported in multibreed beef cattle populations (from 0.049 to 0.190; Guerra et al, 2006), Brahman cattle (0.06, Riley et al, 2004), and Danish Holsteins for stillbirth (0.10; Hansen et al, 2004). Moreover, heritability estimated here for GLd (0.331) is roughly 3-fold greater than the values of 0.115 (Goyache et al, 2005) and 0.15 (Goyache and Gutiérrez, 2001) previously reported for the Asturiana de los Valles breed considering GL as a dam trait, and twice the estimates recently reported for Canadian Charolais, which ranged from 0.61 to 0.64 (Crews, 2006). Given that these papers analyzed GL as a trait of the dam, the values obtained cannot be directly compared with the current estimates for this trait.…”

“…Gestation length was computed as the interval, in days, from the last mating date (one-third of them AI) to calving. Following previous studies, only GL records ranging from 269 to 305 d were included and used for further analyses (Goyache and Gutiérrez, 2001;Goyache et al, 2005). Calf losses were recorded in the CORECA database with the following scores: 1 (calf alive at weaning), 2 (calf sold before weaning), 3 (calf alive at 72 h but dead before weaning), 4 (calf alive at birth but dead within 72 h), and 5 (calf dead at birth).…”

“…The database includes records from the beginning of the performance recording in the second half of the 1980s to the beginning of 2000. Due to the small size of the farms, performance recording was implemented on nucleus farms, grouping farms according to their proximity and their production system, further considering the nucleus as the management unit (Gutiérrez et al, 1997;Goyache and Gutiérrez, 2001). Contemporary groups were defined based on nucleus-year of calving.…”

Factors affecting actual weaning weight, preweaning average daily gain and relative growth rate in Asturiana de los Valles beef cattle breed

“…The Regional Government of Principado de Asturias, through the Asturiana de los Valles Breeders Association (ASEAVA), have implemented performance recording (CORECA database) based on nuclei grouping farms according to their proximity and their production system arising from small farm size (GOYACHE and GUTIERREZ, 2001;GOYACHE et al, 2002). We analysed 3,829 single calving records including weaning and birth weights and dates, sex of calf, calving number of the dam and degree of muscularity of dam and calf.…”

Cytoplasmic line effects for birth weight and preweaning growth traits in the Asturiana de los Valles beef cattle breed

“…Brief descriptions of the management systems and environmental conditions can be found elsewhere (Goyache and Gutiérrez, 2001;Gutiérrez and Goyache, 2002;Gutiérrez et al, 2007).…”