Genetic Parameter Estimates for Milk and Conformation Traits of Multi-genotype Cattle

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to estimate the genetic parameters of milk and conformation traits under environmental sensitivity of multi-genotype cattle. The data from the study came from two genotypes of cows (Holstein and 3/4HolsteinX1/4Bunaji). Milk yield, six body traits (stature, ST; chest width, CW; body depth, BD; heart girth, HG; rump width, RW, chest ligament, CL) and four udder traits (rear udder height, RUH; rear udder width, RUW; udder clearance, UC; teat length, TL). Multi-trait animal models were used to estimate the (co)variance components based on average information restricted maximum likelihood method (AIREML) using R 3.0.3 software. Heritability estimates for milk production and conformation traits were low to high (h²=7 to 44%, Holstein; 16 to 42%). Genetic and environmental correlation between 305-day fat-corrected milk yield and conformation traits were less than unity across different genotypes. It was concluded that considerable exploitable genetic variation exists for milk production and conformation traits which suggest a potential for improvement of economic characteristics.