• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.575-579
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• 2000

First lactation records of 683 Murrah buffaloes maintained at NDRI, Karnal which were progeny of 84 sires used for comparing the heritability estimates of age at first calving, first lactation milk yield and first service period under single and multiple trait models using restricted maximum likelihood (REML) method of estimation under an individual animal model. The results indicated that the heritability estimates may vary under single and multiple trait models depending upon the magnitude of genetic and environmental correlation among the traits being considered. Therefore, a single or multiple trait model is recommended for estimation of variance components depending upon the goal of breeding programme. However, there may not be any advantage of considering a trait with zero or near zero heritability and having no or very low genetic correlation with other traits in the model. Lower heritability estimates of part lactation yield (120-day milk yield) implied that there may not be any advantage of considering this trait in place of actual 305-day milk yield, whereas, comparable heritability estimates of predicted 305-day milk yield suggested that it could be used for sire evaluation to reduce the cost of milk recording under field conditions.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.185-191
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• 2021

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters for worm resistance (WR) and associated characteristics, using the linear-threshold animal model via Bayesian inference in single- and multiple-trait analyses. Methods: Data were collected from a herd of Santa Inês breed sheep. All information was collected with animals submitted to natural contamination conditions. All data (number of eggs per gram of feces [FEC], Famacha score [FS], body condition score [BCS], and hematocrit [HCT]) were collected on the same day. The animals were weighed individually on the day after collection (after 12-h fasting). The WR trait was defined by the multivariate cluster analysis, using the FEC, HCT, BCS, and FS of material collected from naturally infected sheep of the Santa Inês breed. The variance components and genetic parameters for the WR, FEC, HCT, BCS, and FS traits were estimated using the Bayesian inference under the linear and threshold animal model. Results: A low magnitude was obtained for repeatability of worm-related traits. The mean values estimated for heritability were of low-to-high (0.05 to 0.88) magnitude. The FEC, HCT, BCS, FS, and body weight traits showed higher heritability (although low magnitude) in the multiple-trait model due to increased information about traits. All WR characters showed a significant genetic correlation, and heritability estimates ranged from low (0.44; single-trait model) to high (0.88; multiple-trait model). Conclusion: Therefore, we suggest that FS be included as a criterion of ovine genetic selection for endoparasite resistance using the trait defined by multivariate cluster analysis, as it will provide greater genetic gains when compared to any single trait. In addition, its measurement is easy and inexpensive, exhibiting greater heritability and repeatability and a high genetic correlation with the trait of resistance to worms.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제13권9호
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• pp.1196-1200
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• 2000

First lactation records of 683 Murrah buffaloes maintained at National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, were used for comparing the sire evaluation for age at first calving, first lactation 305-day or less milk yield and first service period. The sires were evaluated using Simple daughters average, Contemporary comparison, Least-squares and BLUP methods. The BLUP evaluations were obtained under single-, two- and three-trait individual animal models. The results revealed that for taking a decision regarding the method of sire evaluation to be used for selecting sires with high breeding values, criteria of the rank correlation could be misleading and comparison of the selected sires is likely to give a veritable picture. The Best Linear Unbiased Prediction method under multi-trait animal model incorporating first lactation milk yield with first service period as a covariable and age at first calving in the model was found to be more efficient and accurate for sire selection in Murrah buffaloes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.1-6
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• 2001

Additive and dominance genetic variances were estimated for purebred Landrace selected with line breeding from 1989 to 1995 at Miyazaki Livestock Experiment Station, Kawaminami Branch. Ten body measurements, two reproductive traits and fifteen carcass traits were analyzed with single-trait mixed model analysis. The estimates of narrow-sense heritabilities by additive model were in the range of 0.07 to 0.46 for body measurements, 0.05 to 0.14 for reproductive traits, and 0.05 to 0.68 for carcass traits. The additive model tended to slightly overestimate the narrow-sense heritabilities as compared to the additive and dominance model. The proportion of the dominance variance to total genetic variance ranged from 0.11 to 0.91 for body measurements, 0.00 to 0.65 for reproductive traits, and 0.00 to 0.86 for carcass traits. Large differences among traits were found in the ratio of dominance to total genetic variance. These results suggested that dominance effect would affect the expression of all ten body measurements, one reproductive trait, and nine carcass traits. It is justified to consider the dominance effects in genetic evaluation of the selected lines for those traits.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.303-310
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• 2015

The study was conducted to analyze the genetic parameters of somatic cell score (SCS) of Holstein cows, which is an important indicator to udder health. Test-day records of somatic cell counts (SCC) of 305-day lactation design from first to fifth lactations were collected on Holsteins in Korea during 2000 to 2012. Records of animals within 18 to 42 months, 30 to 54 months, 42 to 66 months, 54 to 78 months, and 66 to 90 months of age at the first, second, third, fourth and fifth parities were analyzed, respectively. Somatic cell scores were calculated, and adjusted for lactation production stages by Wilmink's function. Lactation averages of SCS ($LSCS_1$ through $LSCS_5$) were derived by further adjustments of each test-day SCS for five age groups in particular lactations. Two datasets were prepared through restrictions on number of sires/herd and dams/herd, progenies/sire, and number of parities/cow to reduce data size and attain better relationships among animals. All LSCS traits were treated as individual trait and, analyzed through multiple-trait sire models and single trait animal models via VCE 6.0 software package. Herd-year was fitted as a random effect. Age at calving was regressed as a fixed covariate. The mean LSCS of five lactations were between 3.507 and 4.322 that corresponded to a SCC range between 71,000 and 125,000 cells/mL; with coefficient of variation from 28.2% to 29.9%. Heritability estimates from sire models were within the range of 0.10 to 0.16 for all LSCS. Heritability was the highest at lactation 2 from both datasets (0.14/0.16) and lowest at lactation 5 (0.11/0.10) using sire model. Heritabilities from single trait animal model analyses were slightly higher than sire models. Genetic correlations between LSCS traits were strong (0.62 to 0.99). Very strong associations (0.96 to 0.99) were present between successive records of later lactations. Phenotypic correlations were relatively weaker (<0.55). All correlations became weaker at distant lactations. The estimated breeding values (EBVs) of LSCS traits were somewhat similar over the years for a particular lactation, but increased with lactation number increment. The lowest EBV in first lactation indicated that selection for SCS (mastitis resistance) might be better with later lactation records. It is expected that results obtained from these multi-trait lactation model analyses, being the first large scale SCS data analysis in Korea, would create a good starting step for application of advanced statistical tools for future genomic studies focusing on selection for mastitis resistance in Holsteins of Korea.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• 제55권5호
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• pp.359-365
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• 2013

단형질 개체모형을 이용한 육종가 추정프로그램의 해를 구하는 컴퓨터 프로그램을 포트란 언어를 이용하여 자체개발하였고, 프로그램은 자료기반으로 반복적으로 계산을 해 나가는 간접법을 이용한 것으로 일반적인 알고리즘으로 프로그램을 개발하고 이의 효율을 개선한 개선알고리즘으로 프로그램을 개발하여, 두 프로그램 간 효율을 비교하였다. 기존의 전통적인 알고리즘은 순차적인 반복문을 이용하여 자료를 읽고 기록하는 방법이며, 새로운 알고리즘은 효과별로 LHS를 직접 작성하여 추정하는 방법을 사용하였다. 개발된 두 가지 프로그램으로 육종가를 추정하고, 그 추정 값이 정확하게 평가되었는지 알아보기 위하여 기존에 개발되어 사용되고 있는 BLUPF90 (Misztal, 2007)과 MTDFREML (Boldman 등, 1999)과 비교하여 보았다. 서로 다른 프로그램으로 추정된 육종가간의 상관은 전체 항목에서 99% 이상 고도의 상관이 나타났으며, 프로그램 추정치 간의 높은 상관으로 볼 때 Model I, Model II는 정확하게 개발되었고 평가된 것을 확인할 수 있었다. Solution이 수렴 될 때까지의 반복횟수는 Model I은 2,568 round, Model II는 1,038 round로 수렴되어 Model II가 Model I보다 작은 반복횟수에서 수렴이 된 것을 확인할 수 있었으며, 수렴속도는 Model I은 256.008초, Model II는 235.729초로 Model II가 Model I 보다 약 10% 정도 개선된 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 개발된 프로그램을 기존 D/B와 연계한다면 농가 및 지자체 등에 지속적인 개량 정보를 제공할 수 있으며, 농가 단위 암소 유전능력평가로 암소개량을 도모할 수 있을 것이라 사료된다.

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제36권12호
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• pp.1785-1795
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• 2023

Objective: This study was to estimate heritabilities, additive genetic correlations, and phenotypic correlations between number of piglets born alive (NBA), litter birth weight (LTBW), number of piglets weaned (NPW) and litter weaning weight (LTWW) in different parities of Landrace (L), Yorkshire (Y), Landrace×Yorkshire (LY), and Yorkshire×Landrace (YL) sows in a commercial swine operation in Northern Thailand. Methods: Two models were utilized, a single trait repeatability model (RM) and a multiple trait animal model (MTM). The RM assumed reproductive records from different parities to be repeated values of the same trait, whereas the MTM assumed these records to be different traits. The two models accounted for the fixed effects of farrowing year-season, genetic group of the sow, heterosis, and age at first farrowing, and the random effects of sow, boar, and residual. Results: Heritability estimates from RM were 0.02±0.01 for NBA, 0.10±0.01 for LTBW, 0.04±0.01 for NPW, and 0.11±0.01 for LTWW. Heritability estimates from MTM fluctuated across parities, ranging from 0.04±0.01 in parity 2 to 0.09±0.02 in parity 4 for NBA, 0.07±0.02 in parity 2 to 0.16±0.02 in parity 3 for LTBW, 0.04±0.02 in parity 4 to 0.08±0.01 in parity 1 for NPW, and 0.16±0.02 in parity 1 to 0.20±0.02 in parity 2 for LTWW. Additive genetic correlation estimates from MTM were also variable, ranging from 0.29±0.24 between NBA in parity 1 and NBA in parity 2 to 0.99±0.05 between LTWW in parity 3 and LTWW in parity 4. Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight the advantage of using MTM for the genetic improvement of reproductive traits in swine and contribute to the development of sustainable swine breeding programs in Thailand.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.162-172
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• 2011

In this paper, simulation was used to determine accuracies of genomic breeding values for polygenic traits associated with many thousands of markers obtained from high density genome scans. The statistical approach was based upon stochastically simulating a pedigree with a specified base population and a specified set of population parameters including the effective and noneffective marker distances and generation time. For this population, marker and quantitative trait locus (QTL) genotypes were generated using either a single linkage group or multiple linkage group model. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was simulated for an entire bovine genome (except for the sex chromosome, n = 29) including linkage and recombination. Individuals drawn from the simulated population with specified marker and QTL genotypes were randomly mated to establish appropriate levels of linkage disequilibrium for ten generations. Phenotype and genomic SNP data sets were obtained from individuals starting after two generations. Genetic prediction was accomplished by statistically modeling the genomic relationship matrix and standard BLUP methods. The effect of the number of linkage groups was also investigated to determine its influence on the accuracy of breeding values for genomic selection. When using high density scan data (0.08 cM marker distance), accuracies of breeding values on juveniles were obtained of 0.60 and 0.82, for a low heritable trait (0.10) and high heritable trait (0.50), respectively, in the single linkage group model. Estimates of 0.38 and 0.60 were obtained for the same cases in the multiple linkage group models. Unexpectedly, use of BLUP regression methods across many chromosomes was found to give rise to reduced accuracy in breeding value determination. The reasons for this remain a target for further research, but the role of Mendelian sampling may play a fundamental role in producing this effect.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.328-333
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• 2015

A genome wide association study was conducted using estimated breeding value (EBV) for milk production traits from 1st to 4th lactation. Significant single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were selected for each trait and the differences were compared by lactation. DNA samples were taken from 456 animals with EBV which are Holstein proven bulls whose semen is being sold or the daughters of old proven bulls whose semen is no longer being sold in Korea. High density genome wide SNP genotype was investigated and the significance of markers associated with traits was tested using the breeding value estimated by a multiple lactation model as a dependent variant. As the result of significance comparisons by lactations, several differences were found between the first lactation and subsequent lactations (from second to 4th lactation). A similar trend was noted in mean deviation and correlation of the estimated effects by lactation. Since there was a difference in the genes associated with EBV for each trait between first and subsequent lactations, a multi-lactation model in which lactation is considered as a different trait is genetically useful. Also, significant markers in all lactations and common markers for different traits were detected, which can be used as markers for quantitative trait loci exploration and marker assisted selection in milk production traits.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제27권10호
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• pp.1406-1410
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• 2014

Age at first calving is an important trait for achieving earlier reproductive performance. To detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) for reproductive traits, a genome wide association study was conducted on the 96 Hanwoo cows that were born between 2008 and 2010 from 13 sires in a local farm (Juk-Am Hanwoo farm, Suncheon, Korea) and genotyped with the Illumina 50K bovine single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chips. Phenotypes were regressed on additive and dominance effects for each SNP using a simple linear regression model after the effects of birth-year-month and polygenes were considered. A forward regression procedure was applied to determine the best set of SNPs for age at first calving. A total of 15 QTL were detected at the comparison-wise 0.001 level. Two QTL with strong statistical evidence were found at 128.9 Mb and 111.1 Mb on bovine chromosomes (BTA) 2 and 7, respectively, each of which accounted for 22% of the phenotypic variance. Also, five significant SNPs were detected on BTAs 10, 16, 20, 26, and 29. Multiple QTL were found on BTAs 1, 2, 7, and 14. The significant QTLs may be applied via marker assisted selection to increase rate of genetic gain for the trait, after validation tests in other Hanwoo cow populations.