Estimation of growth traits heritability coefficients in sheep

Abstract

The objective of this research paper was to estimate heritability coefficients (heritability) of growth traits in the lambs of indigenous Sjenicka Pramenka breed. The research was conducted on a sample which included 421 lambs the descendants of 15 sires and 187 sheep-dams, raised on 3 private farms in Kolubarski district, Serbia. The effect of fixed factors was studied while the values of heritability coefficients were estimated within the frame of SAS software package. A statistically highly significant (**=P lt 0.01) effect on studied traits had following parameters: sex, year of lambing, type of lambing, farm and method of applied reproductive technology. By means of REML method and using the sire model the values of heritability coefficients were determined for the following traits: average lamb birth weight (BW0), average lamb body weight at 30 days (BW30) and average lamb body weight at 90 days (BW90) being: 0.0355; 0.4642 and 0.3018, respectively.

Cilj rada bio je da se procene koeficijenti naslednosti (heritabilitet) osobina porasta kod jagnjadi sjeničke pramenke. Istraživanje je sprovedeno na uzorku od 421 jagnjadi, potomaka 15 očeva i 187 ovaca-majki sa 3 privatne farme u Kolubarskom okrugu. Ispitan je uticaj fiksnih faktora i procenjene su vrednosti koeficijenata naslednosti u okviru SAS softverskog paketa. Visoko statistički značajan (**=P lt 0,01) uticaj na ispitivane osobine imali su: pol, godina jagnjenja, tip jagnjenja, farma i metod primenjene reproduktivne tehnologije. Metodom intraklasne korelacije polusrodnika po ocu utvrđene su vrednosti koeficijenta naslednosti za osobine: prosečna telesna masa jagnjadi na rođenju (BW0), prosečna telesna masa jagnjadi sa 30 dana starosti (BW30) i prosečna telesna masa jagnjadi sa 90 dana starosti (BW90) i iznosile su: 0,0355; 0,4642 i 0,3018, respektivno.