Estimation of Variance Components and Genetic Parameters for Direct
and Maternal Effects on Birth Weight in Brown Swiss Cattle
Ali Kaygisiz*, Galip Bakir1, Isa
Yilmaz2 and Yusuf Vanli3
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of
Agriculture, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University; 1Department
of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Yuzuncu Yil University,
Van; 2Department of Animal Science, Faculty of
Agriculture, Igdir University; 3Department of Animal
Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Namik Kemal University, Türkiye
*Corresponding author: alikaygisiz@ksu.edu.tr
Abstract
The purpose of this
study was to estimate the variance components and genetic parameters for birth
weight in Brown Swiss cattle reared at Malya and Konuklar State Farms, Türkiye. The
least square means of birth weight were 39.91±0.005 and 42.26±0.09kg for
the calves raised at Malya and Konuklar State Farms, respectively. The effects
of calving year, parity and calf sex on birth weight were significant (P<0.05).
The effect of calving season on birth weight was highly significant (P<0.01) for
Malya State Farm, while it was non-significant for Konuklar State Farm. Direct
heritability (h2d), maternal heritability (h2m),
total heritability (h2T) and the fraction of variance due
to maternal permanent environmental effects (c2) were 0.09, 0.04,
0.11 and 0.04, respectively for birth weights of the calves raised at Malya
State Farms. The corresponding values of birth weight for calves raised at
Konuklar State Farm were 0.39, 0.015, 0.29 and 0.018, respectively.