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Sire x herd interactions for weaning weight in beef cattle
1Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit, Armidale, NSW, Australia.
Journal of Animal Science
|August 1, 1992
Summary
Sire x herd interactions significantly impact Australian Angus calf weaning weights, accounting for 3.3% of variance. While important for genetic evaluations, herd-specific breeding values are not yet justified.
Area of Science:
- Animal Genetics
- Quantitative Genetics
- Beef Cattle Breeding
Background:
- Sire x herd interactions are crucial in animal breeding.
- Understanding these interactions is key for accurate genetic evaluations in beef cattle.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the significance of sire x herd interactions on weaning weight in Australian Angus calves.
- To determine the heritability of weaning weight and assess the impact of maternal breeding values.
Main Methods:
- Utilized weaning weight records from 44,357 Australian Angus calves.
- Employed Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) to fit models with fixed and random effects, including sire x herd interactions.
- Investigated the effects of data standardization and dam maternal breeding values (MBV).
Main Results:
- Sire x herd interactions were significant (P < .05), explaining 3.3% of phenotypic variance in the most complete model.
- Across-herd heritabilities ranged from 0.19 to 0.28.
- Adjusting for dam MBV reduced interaction variance and heritability estimates.
Conclusions:
- Sire x herd interactions influence weaning weight in Angus cattle, suggesting potential genotype x environment interactions.
- While these interactions warrant consideration in genetic evaluations, they do not strongly support herd-specific breeding value predictions.
- Unaccounted environmental factors may also contribute to observed sire x herd effects.
