Genetic parameters for calving ease, gestation length and stillbirth in three endangered Austrian blond cattle breeds

摘要

Genetic parameters were estimated for stillbirth, calving ease and gestation length inthree endangered Austrian blond cattle breeds, Carinthian Blond, Murboden andWaldviertel Blond. REML analysis based on an animal model including direct and maternalgenetic effects was applied. Direct heritability estimates for calving ease, stillbirth andgestation length varied from 0.003 to 0.111, 0.006 to 0.044 and 0.235 to 0.512,respectively, while maternal heritabilities ranged from 0.001 to 0.007 for calving ease,0.005 to 0.014 for stillbirth, and 0.002 to 0.063 for gestation length. All pairwise geneticcorrelations for direct traits were generally moderate to high except for stillbirth-calvingease (−0.077, Carinthian Blond). The genetic correlations of all pairs of the 3 direct traitswere positive for Murboden (0.520 to 0.700) and Waldviertel Blond (0.253 to 0.707) whilenegative genetic correlations were detected for Carinthian Blond (−0.077 to −0.943).Close positive genetic correlations were found between direct stillbirth and calving easeof Murboden (0.700) and between direct calving ease and gestation length of WaldviertelBlond (0.707), while a close negative genetic correlation was found between directcalving ease and gestation length of Carinthian Blond (−0.943).