Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances

Year: 2009
Volume: 8
Issue: 8
Page No. 1589 - 1594

Estimation of Genetic Parameters and Correlations among Some Body Measurements of Holstein Calves and Effects of These Measurements on Calving Difficulty

Authors : Adnan Unalan

Abstract: In this study, some body measurements (Birth Weight: BW, Withers Height: WH, Body Length: BL and Chest Girth: CG) and Calving Difficulty Scores (CDS) of 202 calves (of which 85 were born from artificial insemination: AI, 45 were born fresh embryo transfer: ET and 62 were born Frozen Embryo Transfer: FET) obtained from Holstein heifers, which were born in the dairy herd of Cukurova Agricultural Research Institute in Adana (Turkey). In the study, it was firstly investigated the effects of producing type (AI, ET and FET) and sex of calf on all of the body measurements and calving difficulty. Then, the effects of these body measurements on calving difficulty scores were investigated. Besides, heritabilities and genetic and phenotypic correlations among the traits were also estimated. Analysis showed that the effect of producing type was significant on all of the traits studied (p<0.01). But, the effect of sex was not statistically significant on any of them (p>0.05). Heritability estimates were 0.328, 0.287, 0.258, 0.240 and 0.152 for BW, WH, BL, CG and CDS, respectively. Genetic correlations among the body measurements: while, the highest correlation was 0.974 between CG and WH, the lowest correlation was also 0.559 between CG and BL. Genetic correlations between BW and the other measurements and CDS were 0.921, 0.879, 0.829 and 0.804 for WH, BL, CG and CDS, respectively. Genetic correlations between CDS and all of the body measurements studied were 0.804, 0.670, 0.632 and 0.495 for BW, WH, BL and CG, respectively (p<0.01). These results showed that BW was more important factor on calving difficulty than the other measurements of calves.

How to cite this article:

Adnan Unalan , 2009. Estimation of Genetic Parameters and Correlations among Some Body Measurements of Holstein Calves and Effects of These Measurements on Calving Difficulty. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 8: 1589-1594.

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