›› 2015, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (6): 1547-1552.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2015.06.033

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Genetic Evaluation of Reproductive Traits in Sanhe Cattle

DONG Gang-hui1, ZHANG Xu1, WANG Ya-chun1, WU Hong-jun2, LIU Ai-rong3, ZHANG Yi1, WANG Dong-sheng2, CUI Jiu-hui3   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China;
    2. Xiertala Breeding Farm of Hailaer in Inner Mongolia, Hailaer 021000, China;
    3. Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Administration Bureau of Hailaer in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hailaer 021000, China
  • Received:2014-09-26 Online:2015-06-20 Published:2015-07-23

Abstract: This study was conducted on 20 949 reproductive records from 1998 to 2012 of 5 257 Sanhe cattle in Xiertala cattle farm,Inner Mongolia,which was a synthetic breed formed in China in 1986.Age at first pregnancy in heifer (AFPH),age at first calving in heifer (AFCH),gestation length in cow (GLC),days open in cow (DOC),and calving interval in cow (CIC) were considered for genetic evaluation.SAS 9.13 and DMU software were used for data processing,and AI-REML combined EM algorithm based on multiple traits animal model was employed for estimating variance components.The heritability for each trait were then calculated,and breeding value was used to analyze the genetic trends.The results showed that the estimated heritabilities of age at first pregnancy in heifer,age at first calving in heifer,gestation length in cow,days open in cow,calving interval in cow were 0.0552,0.0638,0.0527,0.1096 and 0.0844,respectively.The heritabilities were all less than 0.1 except days open (0.1096),indicating these were low inheritable traits.In general,trends of EBVs for each trait didn't show any defined progresses and indicating good reproductive performance maintained in Sanhe cattle.These results lay a theoretical foundation for optimizing breeding programs and improving the accuracy of selection in Sanhe cattle.

Key words: Sanhe cattle; reproductive traits; genetic parameters; genetic trend

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