Single-trait bayesian analysis of some growth traits in Japanese quail

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the heritability for some growth traits of Japanese quail through the estimation of variance components by Bayesian methodology. For this purpose, 340 progenies of 34 sires were used. Live weight (LW42) and absolute and relative growth rates at 42 days of age (AGR42 and RGR42, respectively) were submitted to single-trait analysis under a sire model. A software (package MCMCglmm) was used for the estimations, and a single chain with 65,000 rounds was run for each trait with a thinning interval of 50. Burn-in was set at 15,000 and inferences were built on posterior samples of 1,000 draws for each trait. All marginal posterior densities were unimodal and marginal posterior distributions of sire variance are slightly skewed to the right. The results of the analyses showed high, moderate, and low heritability of LW42, AGR42, and RGR42, respectively.