Components of (co)variance for age at first and second calving of nellore females raised in Southern Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate the heritability, genetic correlation and estimated breeding values for age at first (AFC) and second calving (ASC) for Nellore females raised in Southern Brazil. The (co)variance and estimated breeding values were obtained using Bayesian inference in a bivariate analysis, adopting an animal model. The average ages were 49.30 and 69.85 months, and the heritabilities were 0.25 and 0.26, respectively for AFC and ASC. The genetic correlation between AFC and ASC was 0.88. The correlation between the classifications of sires according to their estimated breeding values was 0.93. The heritability estimates for AFC and ASC suggest the possibility of obtaining genetic gain by selection. The correlation between these traits close to one indicates that they are virtually controlled by the same genes, and the selection for one of them will promote correlated advanced gain for the other.