Short Communication: Difficulties in Estimating Across-Country Genetic Correlations for Weakly Linked Bull Populations

Abstract

Genetic correlations across 9 weakly linked bull populations were estimated with various models, methods, and data sets. Estimates of the same genetic correlation differed noticeably depending on estimation strategy (up to 1.03 units) for country-pairs with no or few direct genetic links. Differences in estimated genetic correlations decreased with an increasing number of genetic ties between countries, and, essentially, no differences were found between estimated genetic correlations based on 61 common bulls, regardless of the estimation strategy used.