Performance of a hyperprolific rabbit line I. Litter size traits
1998
Cifre, J. | Baselga, M. | García-Ximénez, F. | Vicente, J.S.
SUMMARY: Litter size traits of a maternal line of meat rabbits, line H, founded by selecting on hyperprolificacy, were studied to check its prolificacy. Due to health problems related to the putting together of animals with different origins and to the genetic heterogeneity of the commercial population from which the new line (line H) was founded, line H was compared to the best maternal line available (line V) and with crossbred does (A × V) of high litter size. The comparison took place on four farms and involved 858 females. The analysis of litter size traits showed that line H had superior prolificacy compared with crossbred females and the average of line V and crossbred females, which was around 0.5-0.8 young (p < 0.05). The contrasts between line H and line V were always favourable to line H, by around 0.5 pups, but were not significant (p = 0.06). The differences between the two lines, however, changed with parity order: they were null for first and second parity but reached values of one young and even more for superior parity orders. The differences in prolificacy did not have consequences on the fertility of the females as there were no differences in kindling interval for the animals studied. It can be concluded that hyperprolific selection has been successful in rabbits, and the new line could play an important role as a maternal line in rabbit production for meat.
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