Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:55:47.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Genetic analysis of the growth rate of Israeli Holstein calves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2008

J. I. Weller  and
E. Ezra
J. I. Weller*
Affiliation:
Institute of Animal Sciences, ARO, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
E. Ezra
Affiliation:
Israel Cattle Breeders Association, Caesaria Industrial Park, Caesaria 38900, Israel
*
E-mail: weller@agri.huji.ac.il
Get access

Abstract

Weight of male and female Israeli Holstein calves and yearling gain were analyzed on 285 800 records from 105 935 animals from 458 herds recorded between 1994 and 2007. The difference between the sexes increased until around 400 days, at which point the difference between males and females was 110 kg. Yearling gain, defined as 365 × (weight − 35)/age + 35, was greatest for males at approximately 300 days and for females at 225 days. Yearling gain of male and female calves were highly correlated genetically; thus records from both sexes were combined into a joint genetic analysis. Heritability and repeatability were 0.33 and 0.73 in the analysis of both sexes, and similar in the single-sex analyses. Yearling gain is also highly correlated genetically with various measures of mature cow size. Yearling gain was positively correlated with milk, fat, protein production and somatic cell score, but negatively correlated with fertility and cow survival. Yearling gain was also positively correlated with both the sire and maternal grandsire effects on dystocia, but not with calf mortality. The genetic trend for yearling gain was 0.16 kg/year, while phenotypic trends for first and last weighings were both negative.

Keywords

dairy cattlegrowth rateanimal modelgenetic analysis
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 2 , Issue 12 , December 2008 , pp. 1717 - 1723
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brotherstone, S, Coffey, MP, Banos, G 2007. Genetic parameters of growth in dairy cattle and associations between growth and health traits. Journal of Dairy Science 90, 444–450.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crews, DH, Lowerison, M, Caron, N, Kemp, RA 2004. Genetic parameters among growth and carcass traits of Canadian Charolais cattle. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 84, 589–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cue, RI, Monardes, HG, Hayes, JF 1990. Relationships of calving ease with type traits. Journal of Dairy Science 73, 3586–3590.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Mattos, D, Misztal, I, Bertrand, JK 2000. Variance and covariance components for weaning weight for Herefords in three countries. Journal of Animal Science 78, 33–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ezra, E, Weller, JI, Drori, D 1987. Estimation of environmental effects on milk protein content. Heker Umas 9, 31–35 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Giannotti, JDG, Packer, IU, Mercadante, MEZ 2005. Meta-analysis for heritability of estimates growth traits in beef cattle. Brazilian Journal of Animal Science 34, 1173–1180.Google Scholar
Hansen, LB, Cole, JB, Marx, GD, Seykora, AJ 1999. Productive life and reasons for disposal of Holstein cows selected for large versus small body size. Journal of Dairy Science 82, 795–801.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacNeil, MD 2003. Genetic evaluation of an index of birth weight and yearling weight to improve efficiency of beef production. Journal of Animal Science 81, 2425–2433.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miglior, F, Muir, BL, Van Doormaal, BJ 2005. Selection indices in Holstein cattle of various countries. Journal of Dairy Science 88, 1613.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Misztal, I, Wiggans, GR 1988. Approximation of prediction error variance in large-scale animal models. Journal of Dairy Science 71 (suppl. 2), 27–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Misztal, I, Lawlor, TJ, Short, TH, Wiggans, GR 1991. Continuous genetic evaluation of Holstein for type. Journal of Dairy Science 74, 2001–2009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Settar, P, Weller, JI 1999. Genetic analysis of cow survival in the Israeli dairy cattle population. Journal of Dairy Science 82, 2170–2177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weller, JI, Ezra, E 1997. Genetic analysis of somatic cell concentration and female fertility of Israeli Holsteins by the individual animal model. Journal of Dairy Science 80, 586–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weller, JI, Ezra, E 2004. Genetic analysis of the Israeli Holstein dairy cattle population for production and non-production traits with a multitrait animal model. Journal of Dairy Science 87, 1519–1527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weller, JI, Gianola, D 1989. Models for genetic analysis of dystocia and calf mortality. Journal of Dairy Science 72, 2633–2643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weller, JI, Ezra, E, Leitner, G 2006. Genetic analysis of persistency in the Israeli Holstein population by the multitrait animal model. Journal of Dairy Science 89, 2738–2746.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westell, RA, Quaas, RL, Van Vleck, LD 1988. Genetic groups in an animal model. Journal of Dairy Science 71, 1310–1318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar