[en] Nonadditive genetic effects may be not negligible but are often ignored in genetic evaluations. The most important nonadditive effect is probably dominance. Prediction of dominance effects should allow a more precise estimation of the total genetic merit, particularly in populations that use specialized sire and dam lines, and with large number of full-sibs, like pigs. Computation of the inverted dominance relationship matrix, D-1, is difficult with large datasets. But, D-1 can be replaced by the inverted sire-dam subclass relationship matrix F-1, which represents the average dominance effect of full-sibs. The aim of this study was to estimate dominance variance for longitudinal measurements of body weight (BW) in a crossbred population of pigs The dataset consisted of 20,120 BW measurements recorded between 50 and 210 d of age on 2,341 crossbred pigs (Piétrain X Landrace). A random regression model was used to estimate variance components. Fixed effects were sex and date of recording. Random effects were additive genetic, permanent environment, parental dominance and residual. Dominance variance represented 7 to 9% of the total variance and 11 to 30% of additive variance. Those results showed that dominance variance exists for growth traits in pigs and may be relatively large. The estimation of dominance effects may be useful for mate selection program to maximize genetic merit of progeny.
Disciplines :
Genetics & genetic processes Animal production & animal husbandry
Author, co-author :
Dufrasne, Marie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Sciences agronomiques > Zootechnie
Faux, Pierre ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Sciences agronomiques > Zootechnie
Piedboeuf, Maureen; Association Wallonne des Eleveurs de Porcs
Wavreille, José; Centre wallon de Recherches agronomiques > Productions et Filières
Gengler, Nicolas ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Sciences agronomiques > Zootechnie
Language :
English
Title :
Estimation of dominance variance for growth traits with sire-dam subclass effects in a crossbred population of pigs
Publication date :
2014
Event name :
19th National Symposium on Applied Biological Science
Event place :
Gembloux, Belgium
Event date :
7 février 2014
Funders :
FRIA - Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture [BE]