China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2022, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (10): 3846-3855.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2022.10.017

• Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Analysis of Influencing Factors of Birth Weight Traits and Estimation of Heritability in Hu Sheep

WANG Jiang1, LIU Zhiqiang2, SUN Hongchen2, HE Xinyu1, NUHA Maidan2, QIU Hongjun2, WANG Yan3, YIMING Sulaiman1   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China;
    2. Xinjiang Shangpin Meiyang Technology Co., Ltd., Changji 831100, China;
    3. Xinjiang Jinhe Muyuan Technology Co., Ltd., Changji 831100, China
  • Received:2022-04-11 Online:2022-10-05 Published:2022-09-30

Abstract: 【Objective】 The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of farms,birth season,birth month,birth type and sex on the birth weight trait of Hu sheep,and estimate the heritability of this trait.【Method】 The non-genetic factor analysis of 8 352 lambs produced by a total of 4 570 ewes in three large-scale Hu sheep breeding enterprises in Xinjiang in 2021 was carried out using SAS 9.2 software,and the variance components of the birth weight traits of Hu sheep was analyzed by DMU software.The heritability of the trait was estimated using two single-trait animal models,and the optimal fixed-effects combination and animal model were determined according to Akaike’s information criterion (AIC).【Result】 The farms,birth season,birth month,birth type and sex had extremely significant effects on the birth weight of Hu sheep (P<0.01).There was no significant difference in the mean birth weight between farm 1 and farm 2 (P>0.05),and both were extremely significantly higher than that of farm 3 (P<0.01).The birth weight of lambs born in winter was generally large,and the birth weight of lambs born in January was the largest.The more abundant the birth type were,the smaller the birth weight of lambs was,and the birth weight of lambs among different birth type showed extremely significant difference (P<0.01).According to the calculation of single trait animal model (considering maternal effect),the direct,maternal and total heritability of birth weight traits of Hu sheep were 0.251,0.668 and 0.211,respectively,which belonged to medium heritability.【Conclusion】 When analyzing the production data of the first year of the sheep farm,it was more appropriate to choose the month of birth as the time factor than the birth season.It could not only analyze the production of Hu sheep in each month to make the corresponding breeding plan adjustment,but also select the month as the fixed effect to increase the accuracy of the estimated genetic parameters of traits.The heritability estimation of the birth weight trait of Hu sheep would be too large without considering the maternal effect,so the maternal effect should be given priority in the early stage which was greatly affected by the maternal effect.

Key words: Hu sheep; birth weight; influencing factors; heritability

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