Estimation of genetic parameters for four Peruvian guinea pig lines

This study aimed to estimate genetic parameters for four guinea pig lines of a crossbreeding scheme. Two paternal lines are selected for growth rate (P1) and feed conversion rate (P2), whereas two maternal lines are selected for growth rate of litter (M1) and litter size at birth (M2). The heritabilities and genetic correlations were estimated with animal linear models employing multivariate analyses with REML. The heritabilities for birth weight (BW) were 0.21±0.02 and 0.23±0.03 for P1 and P2, respectively, and for weaning weight (WW), the heritability was 0.28±0.03 for P2. The estimates for weight at 60 days of age (W60) were 0.34±0.01 and 0.47±0.04 for P1 and P2, respectively, and for partial feed conversion rate was 0.46±0.03 for P2. Heritabilities for litter weight at birth (LW) were 0.09±0.03 and 0.10±0.03 for P1 and M1, respectively. For litter weight at 10 days of age (LW10), the heritability was 0.15±0.03 for M1. Heritabilities for litter size (LS) were 0.17±0.03, 0.20±0.03 and 0.11±0.03, and for number of pups born alive (BA) were 0.09±0.03, 0.14±0.03 and 0.09±0.03 for P1, M1 and M2, respectively. Similarly, high genetic correlations were found between BW, WW and W60 and between LW, LS, LW10 and BA. The genetic correlation between BW direct and maternal was moderately negative (- 0.24 ± 0.10) for P1. These results show the genetic status for all four guinea pig lines, which is essential for the further improvement of the currently implemented breeding programme and also indicate an opportunity for genetic improvement.