Estimation of genetic parameters and (co)variance components for weaning traits of Charolais population in Hungary

Abstract

Weaning performance of 10 808 purebred offsprings (4991 male and 5817 female) of 80 sires in 13 farms were analised using animal model. Heritability, breeding value, (co)variance components for weaning weight (WW), preweaning daily gain (PDG), 205-day weight (CWW) were calculated. Farm, parity, year of birth, season of birth, sex were treated as fixed, and the maternal permanent environment was treated as random effects. In case of WW and PDG, the age of the calves at weaning was fitted as a covariant. Data were analyzed with MTDFREML (Boldman et al. 1993) program. The overall mean value and standard deviation of WW, PDG and CWW were 221±47 kg, 1,111±0.21 kg/day and 226±42 kg, respectively. The age of the calves at weaning was 202 days. The direct heritability (h 2d ) of WW and PDG were 0.57±0.08, 0.49±0.07 and CWW was 0.44±0.06, respectively. The maternal heritability (h 2m ) of these traits were 0.32±0.09, 0.33±0.10 and 0.33±0.09, respectively. The direct-maternal correlations (r dm ) were strong and negative. The medium heritability estimates for direct effects suggest that progeny tests should be used in this population to increase genetic improvement.