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U.S. Department of Agriculture, Clay Center, NE 68933
Abstract
Sire-breed rotations are defined as the changing of sire breeds ignoring the sire-breed pedigree of dams from overlapping generations. The limiting theoretical proportion of maximum potential heterozygosity maintained at equilibrium when there is no culling of dams was found to be equal to that of a composite population with the same breed composition. Heterozygosity was simulated with a deterministic model that assumed 20% of reproducing females in each age group were culled each mating period. Maximum age of reproducing females was varied from 3 to 10 mating periods (years for cattle and sheep, half-years for swine). Consecutive use of each sire breed in a sire-breed sequence from two to four mating periods maintained more heterozygosity than predicted by the limiting theoretical formula, which did not take the culling of females into account. Compared with complete sire and dam rotations, sire-breed rotations with the same breed sequence resulted in reductions of .03 to . 13 of potential heterosis. Among two-breed, periodic rotations, the difference ranged from .03 to .08. The smaller differences were generally associated with younger maximum reproducing females ages and the larger differences with older maximum ages. Heterozygosity difference times heterosis is a measure of the expected returns for the more intensive management often needed for complete rotations. Scaled breed difference ranges over which one periodic rotation of sire breeds exceeds another are shifted by overlapping generations among the females. Breed utilization is unchanged by overlapping generations, but relative differences in heterosis utilization are altered.
1 Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Anim. Res. Center, Res. USDA, Clay Center, NE.
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