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Improving management for higher reproduction accelerates genetic improvement in closed herd of swine
Author(s) -
SATOH Masahiro
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1740-0929.2004.00219.x
Subject(s) - heritability , herd , litter , selection (genetic algorithm) , biology , zoology , trait , weaning , reproduction , population , genetic correlation , veterinary medicine , statistics , genetic variation , demography , mathematics , ecology , genetics , medicine , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science , gene , programming language
The present study compared responses to selection at different conception rates and litter sizes at weaning in a simulated closed herd in a swine breeding program. The base population consisted of 10 males and 50 females, and 10 generations of selection was practiced by using individual phenotype or best linear unbiased prediction of breeding values for a trait with heritability ( h 2 ) of either 0.2 or 0.5. The probability of conception in a single mating was assumed to be 0.8, 0.9 or 1.0. Litter size at weaning was sampled randomly from a normal distribution with mean 8, 10 or 12 and variance 8.1225. Genetic response increased by approximately 6% for h 2 = 0.2 and approximately 5% for h 2 = 0.5 at generation 10 when conception rate was increased from 0.8 to 1.0. However, litter size at weaning did not affect response to selection. In conclusion, improving conception rate by environmental management increases genetic response indirectly in a breeding program of a closed swine herd.