Genetic analysis of meat production traits of rabbits in Dagwom Farms, Vom, Nigeria

摘要

Theproductivityoffiverabbitgenotypesnamely:Locals,pureNewZealandWhite(NZW),50%and75%NZWand'Others'weremonitoredfrom1997to1998attheDagwomFarmsinVom,Nigeria.Recordsofmatinginvolving45siresandl45damswereusedtoobtainestimatesofheritability(h2)forbodyweight(BW)at7,21,42and56daysandthegeneticandphenotypiccorrelationsexistingbetweenthem.Estimatesofh2weremostlymoderatetohigh(0.17-0.90).Thephenotypicandgenotypiccorrelationsbetweenthetraitsweremostlypositiveandmoderatetohigh(0.02-0.57and0.18-0.75forphenotypicandgenotypiccorrelations,respectively).ThestudyhasshownthatconsiderablevariationsexistinBWatvariousageswithintherabbitpopulationofDagwomFarms.Thetraitscouldthereforebeimprovedbysimpleselectionprocedures.Inaddition,considerablecorrelatedresponsesinthetraitsshouldbeexpected,consideringthestrongrelationshipsexistingbetweenthem.