Genetic and phenotypic variability for racing performance of trotter horse in Serbia
2014
Štrbac, Lj. (Faculty of Agriculture, Novi Sad (Serbia). Department of Animal Science) | Trivunović, S. (Faculty of Agriculture, Novi Sad (Serbia). Department of Animal Science)
Horse race results in studbooks are supposed to give information to manage the selection of trotters based on the analysis of genetic and phenotypic parameters. The objectives of this study was to estimate genetic and phenotypic variability of three racing traits (number of starts, race time and best racing time) of trotter horses in Serbia. The data were obtained from the Trotting Association of Serbia and consisted of 2252 observations. The model included effect of sex, year of birth, season, year of race, distance and race track as fixed effects and sire as random effect. The BLUP sire model was applied to the genetic evaluation of measured traits. Average mean of number of starts, race time and best racing time was 64, 83.15 and 79.28, respectively. Of all tested fixed effects only distance was not statistically significant for number of starts and season for best racing time. However, a statistically highly significant influence of all tested fixed effects on racing time was shown. Heritability estimates were 0.28 for number of starts, 0.19 for racing time and 0.35 for best racing time. The low heritability estimates for number of starts and racing time indicate that selection based on horse phenotypic value induces small genetic change in these traits while middle level of heritability for best racing time indicates that animal's phenotype is a good indicator of genetic merit or breeding value.
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