Genetic evaluation of reproductive traits in Raeini Cashmere goat using structural ‎equation modeling

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Iran

2 Instructor, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jiroft, Jiroft, Iran‎

Abstract

In the present study, data collected from 1993 to 2011 in Raeini Cashmere goat breeding station were used for genetic evaluation and inferring causal relationships among reproductive traits applying structural equation models. The studied lifetime reproductive traits were included the overall number of kids born (OLSB), the overall number of kids weaned (OLSW), the overall litter weight at birth (OLWB) and the overall litter weight at weaning (OLWW). Three models including standard (SMM), recursive based on prior knowledge (PRM) and recursive based on inductive causation algorithm (ICM) multivariate models were used for genetic evaluation of animals under the Bayesian approach. The comparisons of the investigated models via deviance information criterion (DIC), mean square error (MSE) and Pearson's correlations between observed and predicted records () revealed that ICM had lower DIC and MSE and higher () for all the studied lifetime reproductive traits; implying the more plausibility of ICM over SMM and PRM. Furthermore, re-raking of the animals under SMM and ICM confirmed the importance of considering the causal relationship among the traits for ensuring accurate ranking of animals according to their breeding values.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of animal Science
Volume 51, Issue 1
May 2020
Pages 45-55

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History

  • Receive Date: 08 July 2019
  • Revise Date: 23 February 2020
  • Accept Date: 21 April 2020

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