Genetic correlations between milk production of dairy cattle in four regions of Thailand
2010
Somsak Prempree(Kasetsart University, Bangkok (Thailand). Faculty of Agriculture. Department of Animal Science) E-mail:[email protected] | Skorn Koonawootrittriron(Kasetsart University, Bangkok (Thailand). Faculty of Agriculture. Department of Animal Science) | Elzo, Mauricio A.(University of Florida, Florida (USA). Department of Animal Sciences) | Jureeratn Sanpote(Department of Livestock Development, Bangkok (Thailand). Bureau of Biotechnology for Animal Production) | Boonorm Chomtee(Kasetsart University, Bangkok (Thailand). Faculty of Science. Department of Statistics)
Genetic correlations among milk production in four regions of Thailand were estimated using accumulated 305-d milk yields (MY305) of 5,614 first lactation cows that calved between 1991 and 2005 in 1,089 farms located in central (CT), eastern (ET), northern (NT) and northeastern (NE) part of Thailand. Milk produced in these four regions was assumed to be different traits. All contemporary groups (herdyear-seasons) were connected through common sires. The multiple-trait sire model contained calving age, Holstein breed fraction and heterosis as fixed effects, and contemporary group, sire, and residual as random effects. An AI-REML procedure was used to estimate variances and covariances used to obtain heritabilities within regions and genetic correlations among regions. Heritability estimates differed in the four regions (CT = 0.02 +- 0.02 to 0.03 +- 0.02, ET = 0.08 +- 0.06 to 0.11 +- 0.07, NT = 0.10 +- 0.04 to 0.15 +- 0.05, NE = 0.10 +- 0.06 to 0.18 +- 0.07). Genetic correlations were 0.77 +- 0.43 for CT-ET, 0.46 +- 0.61 for CT-NT, 0.37 +- 0.62 for CT-NE, 0.98 +- 0.34 for ET-NT, 0.08 +- 0.53 for ET-NE, and 0.86 +- 0.20 for NT-NE. Although standard errors were large, estimates of heritability and genetic correlations among regions suggested that sire by region interaction for MY305 existed. Thus, sire selection specific to each particular region may need to be considered to optimize milk production in Thailand.
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This bibliographic record has been provided by Thai National AGRIS Centre, Kasetsart University
