SELECTION INTENSITY AND RESPONSE TO SELECTION FOR YEARLING WEIGHT IN BEEF CATTLE
- 1 March 1973
- journal article
- Published by Canadian Science Publishing in Canadian Journal of Animal Science
- Vol. 53 (1), 1-12
- https://doi.org/10.4141/cjas73-001
Abstract
Ten years of selection for yearling weight in two replicate herds of beef Shorthorns has resulted in genetic increases of 4.8 ± 3.1 and 4.1 ± 3.0 kg/yr in males and 3.3 ± 2.7 and 2.3 ± 1.5 kg/yr in females. These increases were measured as deviations from an unselected control line mean and comprise about 40–45% of the absolute increase in yearling weight that took place during the selection program. The accumulation of selection differential was irregular at first but, in the last 6 yr of the program, advanced regularly at rates of 12.1 ± 0.7 and 11.2 ± 0.9 kg/yr for males and 9.1 ± 0.3 and 7.6 ± 0.4 kg/yr for females. Estimates of realized heritability derived from the two herds were.49 ±.12 and.51 ±.16 for males and.50 ±.11 and.29 ±.08 for females. A separate evaluation, based on line crosses within one herd, tended to confirm the heritability estimates.Keywords
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