Genetic parameter estimation for long endurance trials in the Uruguayan Criollo horse |
| |
| Authors: | R.D. López‐Correa F. Peñagaricano G. Rovere J.I. Urioste |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Departamento de Producción Animal y Pasturas, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay;2. Departamento Genética y Mejoramiento Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay;3. Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida;4. University of Florida Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida;5. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Tjele, Denmark;6. Department of Animal Science/Epidemiology & Biostatistic, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan |
| |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters of performance in a 750‐km, 15‐day ride in Criollo horses. Heritability (h2) and maternal lineage effects (mt2) were obtained for rank, a relative placing measure of performance. Additive genetic and maternal lineage (rmt) correlations among five medium‐to‐high intensity phase ranks (pRK) and final rank (RK) were also estimated. Individual records from 1,236 Criollo horses from 1979 to 2012 were used. A multivariate threshold animal model was applied to the pRK and RK. Heritability was moderate to low (0.156–0.275). Estimates of mt2 were consistently low (0.04–0.06). Additive genetic correlations between individual pRK and RK were high (0.801–0.924), and the genetic correlations between individual pRKs ranged from 0.763 to 0.847. The pRK heritabilities revealed that some phases were explained by a greater additive component, whereas others showed stronger genetic relationships with RK. Thus, not all pRK may be considered as similar measures of performance in competition. |
| |
| Keywords: | endurance genetic correlation heritability horse rank |
|
|
