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- Title
Analysis of fertility in Simmental cattle - genetic and environmental effects on female fertility.
- Authors
Nowak, J.; Otwinowska-Mindur, A.; Ptak, E.; Zarnecki, A.
- Abstract
The objectives of the study were to estimate genetic parameters for some fertility traits and to evaluate the effects of month of calving, first calving year, and age at first calving on four fertility traits of Polish Simmental cows. Lactation records from the first two lactations of 2 413 Simmental cows were analysed. The data came from the Polish National Recording System (SYMLEK), made available by the Polish Federation of Cattle Breeders and Dairy Farmers. The cows, born between 1995 and 2016, were daughters of 335 sires. The analysed parameters were interval from first service to conception for heifers (IFSh) and for cows in second parity (IFS2), interval from first calving to first insemination (CTFI) and days open (DO). The BLUPf90 package and a Bayesian method via Gibbs sampling were used to estimate (co)variance components. Mean IFSh was approx. 14 days and mean IFS2 was more than 26 days. Average length of CTFI was approx. 80 days, and of DO approx. 106 days. All heritabilities were low and ranged from 0.041 (CTFI) to 0.104 (IFS2). Genetic correlations were moderate to high, with two exceptions: the correlation of IFS2 with CTFI (0.186) and with IFSh (-0.284). IFSh was highly genetically correlated with CTFI, IFS2 and DO. It is recommended to supplement the selection index with interval from first service to conception for both heifers and cows in second parity, to enable effective improvement of female fertility scores in the Simmental population in Poland.
- Subjects
POLAND; SIMMENTAL cattle; CATTLE fertility; FERTILITY; CATTLE breeders; GIBBS sampling; GENETIC correlations; LACTATION
- Publication
Journal of Animal & Feed Sciences, 2024, Vol 33, Issue 2, p235
- ISSN
1230-1388
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.22358/jafs/175997/2024