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Genetic parameters of production traits of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats in China
Author(s) -
Zhou H.M.,
Allain D.,
Li J.Q.,
Zhang W.G.,
Yu X.C.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of animal breeding and genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.689
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1439-0388
pISSN - 0931-2668
DOI - 10.1046/j.1439-0388.2002.00362.x
Subject(s) - restricted maximum likelihood , heritability , cashmere goat , zoology , biology , repeatability , genetic correlation , maternal effect , additive genetic effects , multivariate statistics , body weight , genetic variation , maximum likelihood , statistics , mathematics , genetics , offspring , pregnancy , gene , endocrinology
Summary Data on raw cashmere weight and bodyweight traits for 7102 animals with 11 415 observations, from 1988 to 2000, were analysed. Genetic parameters of cashmere weight (CW), fibre length (FL), fibre diameter (FD) and live bodyweight (LBW) were estimated using a restricted maximum likelihood (REML) methodology applied to a multivariate animal model. In addition to fixed effects, the model included random permanent environmental, and direct and maternal additive genetic effects. Heritability estimates were 0.28, 0.23, 0.32 and 0.10 for CW, FL, FD and LBW, respectively. Estimates of maternal genetic effect were close to zero for all traits and can be ignored. Genetic correlations were low to moderate, ranging from −0.19 between FL and FD to 0.41 between LBW and FD. Estimates of repeatability were 0.44, 0.40, 0.38 and 0.39 for CW, FL, FD and LBW, respectively. These genetic parameter values provide a basis for the development of genetic improvement programmes for Inner Mongolian cashmere goats.