HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wilton, J. W. Articles by McWhir, J. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Wilton, J. W. Articles by McWhir, J.

Individual and Progeny Measurements of Growth in Station and Herd Tests¹

University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada NIG 2W1

Abstract

Data on 99 Hereford sires and 466 sons, from a total of 9,761 bulls tested for growth rate in central test stations, were analyzed to estimate heritability. In addition, 50 performance-tested bulls had subsequent progeny proofs in herds on record of performance. A total of 411 tested and untested bulls had both progeny proofs from herd information and from sons tested in central stations. The heritability of gain on test in stations as estimated from sire-son regression was .50. The correlation between individual performance compared with contemporaries in the station and subsequent progeny performance as measured by Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) was .20 for weaning weight, .16 for postweaning gain and .20 for yearling weight. Correlations for post-weaning gain and yearling weight were close to expectation based on numbers of progeny, levels of heritability and genetic correlations appropriate to field records, while the correlation value for weaning weight was higher than expectation. The correlations of the average performance of sons in stations with evaluations by BLUP were also close to expectation.

¹ The computing assistance of H. Song and the financial assistance of Agriculture Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food are gratefully acknowledged.

² Dept. of Anim. and Poul. Sci.