Non-linear recursive models for growth traits in the Pirenaica beef cattle breed

One of the main goals of selection schemes in beef cattle populations is to increase carcass weight at slaughter. Live weights at different growth stages are frequently used as selection criteria under the hypothesis that they usually have a high and positive genetic correlation with weight at slaughter. However, the presence of compensatory growth may bias the prediction ability of early weights for selection purposes. Recursive models may represent an interesting alternative for understanding the genetic and phenotypic relationship between weight traits during growth. For the purposes of this study, the analysis was performed for three different set of data from the Pirenaica beef cattle breed: weight at 120 days (W120) and at 210 days (W210); W120 and carcass weight at slaughter at 365 days (CW365); W210 and CW365. The number of records for each analysis was 8592, 4648 and 3234, respectively. A pedigree composed of 56323 individuals was also included. The statistical model comprised sex, year-season of birth, herd and slaughterhouse, plus a non-linear recursive dependency between traits. The dependency was modeled as a polynomial up to the 4th degree and models were compared using a Logarithm of Conditional Predictive Ordinates. The results of model comparison suggest that the best models were the 3rd degree polynomial for W120-W210 and W120-CW365 and the 2nd degree polynomial for W210-CW365. The posterior mean estimates for heritabilities ranged between 0.29 and 0.44 and the posterior mean estimates of the genetic correlations were null or very low, indicating that the relationship between traits is fully captured by the recursive dependency. The results imply that the predictive ability of the performance of future growth is low if it is only based on records of early weights. The usefulness of slaughterhouse records in beef cattle breeding evaluation is confirmed.