Genetic analysis of days to calving in Nelore beef cattle

• Selma Forni ^[1] ; L. Talarico Dias ^[1] ; L. G. de Albuquerque ^[1]
  1. [1] UNESP/Jaboticabal, Brasil
• Localización: Archivos Latinoamericanos de Producción Animal, ISSN 1022-1301, ISSN-e 1022-1301, Vol. 11, Nº. 3, 2003
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • A Nelore population data was analyzed to estimate genetic parameters for days to calving (DC) and verify the possibility of using it as a selection criterion. There were 49698 calving observations from 36196 females. Data were analyzed using a single-trait animal model. The fixed effects were contemporary groups, calf sex and age of dam at joining as a covariable. The contemporary groups were composed by farm, year, season and handling group at joining and mating type (mating group with multiple sires, mating group with one sire or artificial insemination). The inclusion of permanent environmental effect of animal did not increase the likelihood function significantly. Heritability estimate was 0.090 ± 0.006, indicating that DC is strongly influenced by the environment.