The genetics of prenatal survival of pigs and rabbits: a review

The effect of unilateral ovariectomy on early embryonic survival and embryo development in rabbits

“…Ovulation rate obtained in the present study was within the range of those obtained by other authors in females selected by reproductive traits (Blasco et al, 1993). A quasi-complete ovarian compensation was obtained, since the remaining ovary almost doubled the number of ova, around 6 per female as average.…”

Selection for ovulation rate in rabbits: Genetic parameters and correlated responses on survival rates1

“…The genetic correlation of LS with ES and FS had probabilities of 89 and 91%, respectively, of being greater than 0.5. The positive correlations between LS and survival rates agree with the estimates found in the literature (Blasco et al, 1993a, for a review; Blasco et al, 1993b, in rabbits;Johnson et al, 1999, andRosendo et al, 2007, in pigs).…”

Genetic variability of age and weight at puberty, ovulation rate and embryo survival in gilts and relations with production traits

“…Heritability estimates for ADG, ABT, age at puberty, OR and NE are close to previous estimates of Legault and Gruand (1981) and to average literature values (Bidanel, 1989;Lamberson, 1990;Stewart and Schinckel, 1990;Blasco et al, 1993a;Ducos, 1994). Conversely, the value obtained for weight at puberty is larger than most literature estimates (Young et al, 1978;Hutchens et al, 1981 (Neal et al, 1989) and with estimates obtained in mice and rabbits (Clutter et al, 1990;Blasco et al, 1993b (Young et al, 1977), 50 days of gestation (Neal et al, 1989) or at birth (Young et al, 1978) is observed.…”

“…However, maternal effects on age at puberty are of limited importance (Christenson, 1981;Allrich et al, 1985), so that the deviation of LW x LF from the purebred average should be close to heterosis effects. Indeed, the value obtained does not differ much from the literature average (—11.3 days; Bidanel, 1988 Bidanel, 1989, andBlasco et al, 1993a). …”